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MIL 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF. CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


"Tbt  out-of-tbe-way-tbingi  ordinarily  not  uen" 

^GiforKs  of  Ura'del  by 
VC^itltam  Eteroy  Curtis 


Modern  India 

Mr.  Curtis'  tour  of  India,  of  which  he  writes  here,  is 
of  absorbing  interest  and  full  of  most  useful 
information. 

E^ypf,  'Burmah  and  'British 
Malaysia 

From  material  gathered  upon  the  same  tour  of  which 
Mr.  Curtis'  book  on  India  was  written,  and  lii<e  it 
contains  the  most  recent  information  available. 

Uoday  in  Syria  and  'Palestine: 

uniform  with  "The  Turk  and  His  Lost  Provinces." 
"The  pre-eminent  merit  of  Mr.  Curtis'  books  is  that 
he  sees  clearly  and  writes  tellingly.  No  newspaper 
writer  except  perhaps  George  Kennan  surpasses  him 
in  this  respect." — Pittsburg  Gazette. 

Uhe    ^urK.  and   His    Lost 
'Pro'Oinces 

Sketches  and  Studies  of  Life  and  Travel  in  the 
Land  of  the  Sultan. 
"  Of  very  timely  interest.    The  book  gives  the  infor- 
mation that  the  average  person  needs  about  the 
near  Eastern  question." — New  York  Eveuing Post. 

Each    Ittuatraied.     8-Oo.     Cloth.     ^2.00     JVet 


MODERN  INDIA 


WILLIAM  ELEROY  CURTIS 

Author  of  "The   Turk  and  His  Lost  Provinces."  "To-day  in  Syria 
and  Palestine,"  "Rffyft,  Burma  and  British  Malaysia"  etk. 


CHICAGO  NEW  YORK  TORONTO- 

FLEMING      H.      REVELL     COMPANY 
LONDON       &       EDINBURGH 
MCMV 


Ju 


Copyright,  1905,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


Chicago:  63  Washington  Street 
New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Toronto:  27  Richmond  Street.  W 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    30  St.    Mary    Street 


V5  ^]  5 


To 
LADY  CURZON 

An    Ideal   American   Woman 


This  volume  contains  a  series  of  letters  written 
for  The  Chicago  Record-Herald  during  the 
winter  of  1903-04,  and  are  published  in  permanent 
form  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Frank  B. 
Noyes,  Editor  and  publisher  of  that  paper. 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS 


I.  The  Eye  of  India     . 

II.  The  City  of  Bombay 

III.  Servants,  Hotels,  and  Cave  Tempi 

IV.  The  Empire  of  India 
V.  Two  Hindu  Weddings      . 

VI.  The  Religions  of  India     . 

VII.  How  India  Is  Governed  . 

VIII.  The  Railways  of  India     . 

IX.  The  City  of  Ahmedabad  . 

X.  Jeypore  and  its  Maharaja 

XI.  About  Snakes  and  Tigers 

XII.  The  Rajputs  and  Their  Country 

XIII.  The  Ancient  Mogul  Empire 

XIV.  The  Architecture  of  the  Moguls 
XV.  The  Most  Beautiful  of  Buildings 

XVI.  The  Quaint  Old  City  of  Delhi . 

XVII.  The  Temples  and  Tombs  at  Delhi 

XVIII.  Thugs,  Fakirs  and  Nautch  Dancers 

XIX.  Simla  and  the  Punjab 

XX.  Famines  and  Their  Antidotes  . 

XXI.  The  Frontier  Question     . 

XXII.  The  Army  in  India  . 

XXIII.  Muttra,  Lucknow  and  Cawnpore 

XXIV.  Caste  and  the  Women  of  India 
XXV.  Education  in  India  . 

XXVI.  The  Himalyas  and  the  Invasion  of  Thibet 

XXVII.  Benares,  the  Sacred  City 

XXVIII.  American  Missions  in  India 
XXIV.  Cotton,  Tea  and  Opium  . 

XXX.  Calcutta,  the  Capital  of  India  . 


II 
27 

46 
62 
83 
99 

120 
144 
156 
164 
186 
194 
202 
217 
232 
250 
268 
277 

295 
312 

351 
366 
382 

397 
413 
428 

457 
467 
483 


ivi310361 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


MODERN  INDIA 

Map  of  India Frontispie,e 

A  Bombay  Street 17 

The  Clock  Tower  and  University  Buildings,  Bombay       .         .  23 

Victoria  Railway  Station,  Bombay 30 

Nautch  Dancers 92 

Body  ready  for  Funeral  Pyre,  Bombay  Burning  Ghat      .         .  105 
Mohammedans  at  Prayer  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .117 

Huthi  Singh's  Tomb,  Ahmedabad 162 

Street  Corner,  Jeypore 169 

The  Maharaja  of  Jeypore 172 

Hall  of  the  Winds,  Jeypore 17S 

Elephant  Belonging  to  the  Maharaja  of  Jeypore       .         .         .  181 

Tomb  of  Etmah  Dowlah,  Agra 200 

Portrait  of  Shah  Jehan 228 

Portrait  of  Akbar,  the  Great  Mogul 228 

The  Taj  Mahal 232 

Interior  of  Taj  Mahal 236 

Tomb  of  Sheik  Salira,  Fattehpur 244 

A  Corner  in  Delhi 255 

Hall  of  Marble  and  Mosaics,  Palace  of  Moguls,  Delhi     .         .  262 

Tomb  of  Amir  Khusran,  Persian  Poet,  Delhi    ....  275 

"Kim,"  the  Chela  and  the  Old  Lama 305 

A  Ekka,  or  Road  Cart 317 

A  Team  of  "Critters" 324 

Group  of  Famous  Brahmin  Pundits           .....  369 

Tomb  of  Akbar,  the  Great  Mogul 380 

Audience  Chamber  of  the  Mogul  Palace,  Agra          .         .         .  400 

A  Hindu  Ascetic 43^ 

A  Hindu  Barber 441 

Bodies  ready  for  Burning,  Benares  ......  447 

Great  Banyan  Tree,  Botanical  Garden,  Calcutta     .         •         .  475 

The  Princes  of  Pearls 501 


-\ 


MODERN   INDIA 


THE   EYE   OF   INDIA 

A  voyage  to  India  nowadays  is  a  continuous  social 
event.  The  passengers  compose  a  house  party,  being 
guests  of  the  Steamship  company  for  the  time.  The  decks 
of  the  steamer  are  like  broad  verandas  and  are  covered 
with  comfortable  chairs,  in  which  the  owners  lounge 
about  all  day.  Some  of  the  more  industrious  women  knit 
and  embroider,  and  I  saw  one  good  mother  with  a  basket 
full  of  mending,  at  which  she  was  busily  engaged  at  least 
three  mornings.  Others  play  cards  upon  folding  tables 
or  write  letters  with  portfolios  on  their  laps,  and  we  had 
several  artists  who  sketched  the  sky  and  sea,  but  the 
majority  read  novels  and  guide  books,  and  gossiped.  As 
birds  of  a  feather  flock  together  on  the  sea  as  well  as  on 
land,  previous  acquaintances  and  congenial  new  ones 
form  little  circles  and  cliques  and  entertain  themselves 
and  each  other,  and,  after  a  day  or  two,  move  their  chairs 
around  so  that  they  can  be  together.  Americans  and 
English  do  not  mix  as  readily  as  you  might  expect,  al- 
though there  is  nothing  like  coolness  between  them.  It 
is  only  a  natural  restraint.  They  are  accustomed  to  their 
ways,  and  we  to  ours,  and  it  is  natural  for  us  to  drift  to- 
ward our  own  fellow  countrymen. 

II 


12  MODERN  INDIA 

In  the  afternoon  nettings  are  hung  around  one  of  the 
broad  decks  and  games  of  cricket  are  played.  One  day  it 
is  the  army  against  the  navy ;  another  day  .  the  united 
service  against  a  civilian  team,  and  then  the 
cricketers  in  the  second-class  salon  are  invited  to  come ' 
forward  and  try  their  skill  against  a  team  made  up  of 
first-classers.  In  the  evening  there  is  dancing,  a  piano 
being  placed  upon  the  deck  for  that  purpose,  and  for  two 
hours  it  is  very  gay.  The  ladies  are  all  in  white,  and  sev- 
eral English  women  insisted  upon  coming  out  on  the  deck 
in  low-cut  and  short-sleeved  gowns.  It  is  said  to  be  the 
latest  fashion,  and  is  not  half  as  bad  as  their  cirgarette 
smoking  or  the  ostentatious  display  of  jewelry  that  is 
made  on  the  deck  every  morning.  Several  women,  and 
some  of  them  with  titles,  sprawl  around  in  steamer  chairs, 
W'Caring  necklaces  of  pearls,  diamonds,  emeralds  and 
other  precious  stones,  fit  for  only  a  banquet  or  a  ball, 
with  their  fingers  blazing  with  jewels  and  their 
wrists  covered  with  bracelets.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  rivalry  among  the  aristocracy  on  our  steamer  as  to 
which  could  make  the  most  vulgar  display  of  gold,  silver 
and  precious  stones,  and  it  occurs  to  me  that  these  Eng- 
lishwomen had  lived  in  India  so  long  that  they  must  have 
acquired  the  Hindu  barbaric  love  of  jewelry. 

My  attention  was  called  not  long  ago  to  a  cartoon  in  a 
British  illustrated  paper  comparing  the  traveling  outfits 
of  American  and  English  girls.  The  American  girl  had  a 
car  load  of  trunks  and  bags  and  bundles,  a  big  bunch  of 
umbrellas  and  parasols,  golf  sticks,  tennis  racquets  and 
all  sorts  of  queer  things,  and  was  dressed  in  a  most  con- 
spicuous and  elaborate  manner.  She  was  represented  as 
striding  up  and  down  a  railway  platform  covered  with 
diamonds,  boa,  flashy  hat  and   fancy  finery,  while  the 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  13 

English  girl,  in  a  close  fitting  ulster  and  an  Alpine  hat, 
leaned  quietly  upon  her  umbrella  near  a  small  "box,"  as 
they  call  a  trunk,  and  a  modest  traveling  bag.  But  that 
picture  isn't  accurate.  According  to  my  observation  it 
ought  to  be  reversed.  I  have  never  known  the  most  vul- 
gar or  the  commonest  American  woman  to  make  such  a 
display  of  herself  in  a  public  place  as  we  witnessed  daily 
among  the  titled  women  upon  the  P.  and  O.  steamer 
Mongolia,  bound  for  Bombay.  Nor  is  it  exceptional. 
Whenever  you  see  an  overdressed  woman  loaded  with 
jewelry  in  a  public  place  in  the  East,  you  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  she  belongs  to  the  British  nobility.  Ger- 
mans, French,  Italians  and  other  women  of  continental 
Europe  are  never  guilty  of  similar  vulgarity,  and  among 
Americans  it  is  absolutely  unknown. 

It  is  customary  for  everybody  to  dress  for  dinner,  and, 
while  the  practice  has  serious  objections  in  stormy 
weather  it  is  entirely  permissible  and  comfortable  during 
the  long,  warm  nights  on  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  weather, 
however,  was  not  nearly  as  warm  as  we  expected  to  find 
it.  We  were  four  days  on  the  Red  Sea  and  six  days  on 
the  Indian  Ocean,  and  were  entirely  comfortable  except 
for  two  days  when  the  wind  was  so  strong  and  kicked  up 
so  much  water  that  the  port-holes  had  to  be  closed,  and 
it  was  very  close  and  stuffy  in  the  cabin.  While  the  sun 
was  hot  there  was  always  a  cool  breeze  from  one  direc- 
tion or  another,  and  the  captain  told  me  it  was  customary 
during  the  winter  season. 

The  passengers  on  our  steamer  were  mostly  English, 
with  a  few  East  Indians,  and  Americans.  You  cannot 
board  a  steamer  in  any  part  of  the  world  nowadays  with- 
out finding  some  of  your  fellow  countrymen.  They  are 
becoming  the  greatest  travelers  of  any  nation  and  are 


14  MODERN  INDIA 

penetrating  to  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  Many  of  the 
English  passengers  were  army  officers  returning  to  India 
from  furloughs  or  going  out  for  service,  and  officers' 
families  who  had  been  spending  the  hot  months  in  Eng- 
land. We  had  lots  of  lords  and  sirs  and  lady  dowagers,- 
generals,  colonels  and  officers  of  lesser  rank,  and  the 
usual  number  of  brides  and  bridegrooms,  on  their  wed- 
ding tours ;  others  were  officials  of  the  government  in 
India,  who  had  been  home  to  be  married.  And  we  had 
several  young  women  who  were  going  out  to  be  married. 
Their  lovers  were  not  able  to  leave  their  business  to  make 
the  long  voyage,  and  were  waiting  for  them  in  Bombay, 
Calcutta  or  in  some  of  the  other  cities.  But  perhaps  the 
largest  contingent  were  "civil  servants,"  as  employes  of 
the  government  are  called,  who  had  been  home  on  leave. 
The  climate  of  India  is  very  trying  to  white  people,  and, 
recognizing  that  fact,  the  government  gives  its  officials 
six  months'  leave  with  full  pay  or  twelve  months'  leave 
with  half  pay  every  five  years.  In  that  way  an  official 
who  has  served  five  consecutive  years  in  India  can  spend 
the  sixth  year  in  England  or  anywhere  else  he  likes. 

We  had  several  notable  natives,  including  Judge  Nayar, 
a  judicial  magistrate  at  Madras  who  has  gained  eminence 
at  the  Indian  bar  and  was  received  with  honors  in  Eng- 
land. He  is  a  Parsee,  a  member  of  that  remarkable  race 
which  is  descended  from  the  Persian  fire  worshipers.  He 
dresses  and  talks  and  acts  exactly  like  an  ordinary  Eng- 
lish barrister.  There  were  three  brothers  in  the  attractive 
native  dress,  Mohammedans,  sons  of  Adamjee  Peerbhoy, 
one  of  the  largest  cotton  manufacturers  and  wealthiest 
men  in  India,  who  employs  more  than  15,000  operatives 
in  his  mills  and  furnished  the  canvas  for  the  tents  and 
the  khaki  for  the  uniforms  of  the  British  soldiers  during 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  15 

the  South  African  war.  These  young  gentlemen  had 
been  making  a  tour  of  Europe,  combining  business  with 
pleasure,  and  had  inspected  nearly  all  the  great  cotton 
mills  in  England  and  on  the  continent,  picking  up  points 
for  their  own  improvement.  They  are  intelligent  and  en- 
terprising men  and  their  reputation  for  integrity,  ability 
and  loyalty  to  the  British  government  has  frequently  been 
recognized  in  a  conspicuous  manner. 

Our  most  notable  shipmate  was  the  Right  Honorable 
Lord  Lamington,  recently  governor  of  one  of  the  Aus- 
tralian provinces,  on  his  way  to  assume  similar  responsi- 
bility at  Bombay,  which  is  considered  a  more  responsible 
post.  He  is  a  youngish  looking,  handsome  man,  and 
might  easily  be  mistaken  for  Governor  Myron  T.  Herrick 
of  Ohio.  One  night  at  dinner  his  lordship  was  toasted  by 
an  Indian  prince  we  had  on  board,  and  made  a  pleasant 
reply,  although  it  was  plain  to  see  that  he  was  not  an 
orator.  Captain  Preston,  the  commander  of  the  ship, 
who  was  afterward  called  upon,  made  a  much  more  bril- 
liant speech. 

The  prince  was  Ranjitsinhji,  a  famous  cricket  player, 
whom  some  consider  the  champion  in  that  line  of  sport. 
He  went  over  to  the  United  States  with  an  English  team 
and  will  be  pleasantly  remembered  at  all  the  places  he 
visited.  He  is  a  handsome  fellow,  25  years  old,  about  the 
color  of  a  mulatto,  with  a  slender  athletic  figure,  graceful 
manners,  a  pleasant  smile,  and  a  romantic  history.  His 
father  was  ruler  of  one  of  the  native  states,  and  dying, 
left  his  throne,  title  and  estates  to  his  eldest  son.  The 
latter,  being  many  years  older  than  Ranjitsinhji,  adopted 
him  as  his  heir  and  sent  him  to  England  to  be  educated 
for  the  important  duty  he  was  destined  to  perform.  He 
went  through  the  school  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  Uni- 


i6  MODERN  INDIA 

versity  and  took  honors  in  scholarship  as  well  as  athletics, 
and  was  about  to  return  to  assume  his  hereditary  respon- 
sibility in  Indian  when,  to  the  astonishment  of  all  con- 
cerned, a  boy  baby  was  born  in  his  brother's  harem,  the 
first  and  only  child  of  a  rajah  78  years  of  age.  The 
mother  was  a  Mohammedan  woman,  and,  according  to  a 
strict  construction  of  the  laws  governing  such  things 
among  the  Hindus,  the  child  was  not  entitled  to  any  con- 
sideration whatever.  Without  going  into  details,  it  is 
sufficient  for  the  story  to  say  that  the  public  at  large  did 
not  believe  that  the  old  rajah  was  the  father  of  the  child, 
or  that  the  infant  was  entitled  to  succeed  him  even  if  he 
had  been.  But  the  old  man  was  so  pleased  at  the  birth  of 
the  baby  that  he  immediately  proclaimed  him  his  heir, 
the  act  was  confirmed  by  Lord  Elgin,  the  viceroy,  and  the 
honors  and  estates  which  Ranjitsinhji  expected  to  inherit 
vanished  like  a  dream.  The  old  man  gave  him  an  allow- 
ance of  $10,000  a  year  and  he  has  since  lived  in  London 
consoling  himself  with  cricket. 

Another  distinguished  passenger  was  Sir  Cowasji  Je- 
hangir  Readymoney,  an  Indian  baronet,  who  inherited 
immense  wealth  from  a  long  line  of  Parsee  bankers.  They 
have  adopted  as  a  sort  of  trademark,  a  nickname  given  by 
some  wag  to  the  founder  of  the  family,  in  the  last  century 
because  of  his  immense  fortune  and  success  in  trade. 
Mr.  Readymoney,  or  Sir  Jehangir,  as  he  is  commonly 
known,  the  present  head  of  the  house,  was  accompanied 
by  his  wife,  two  daughters,  their  governess,  and  his  son, 
who  had  been  spending  several  months  in  London,  where 
he  had  been  the  object  of  much  gratifying  attention.  His 
father  received  his  title  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  gen- 
erosity in  presenting  $250,000  to  the  Indian  Institute  in 
London,  and  for  other  public  benefactions,  estimated  at 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  17 

$1,300,000.  He  built  colleges,  hospitals,  insane  asylums 
and  other  institutions.  He  founded  a  Strangers'  Home 
at  Bombay  for  the  refuge  of  people  of  respectability  who 
find  themselves  destitute  or  friendless  or  become  ill  in 
that  city.  He  erected  drinking  fountains  of  artistic  archi- 
tecture at  several  convenient  places  in  Bombay,  and  gave 
enormous  sums  to  various  charities  in  London  and  else- 
where without  respect  to  race  or  creed.  Both  the  Roman 
Catholic  and  the  Presbyterian  missions  in  India  have  been 
the  recipients  of  large  gifts,  and  the  university  at  Bombay 
owes  him  for  its  finest  building. 

Several  of  the  most  prominent  native  families  in  India 
have  followed  the  example  of  Mr,  Readymoney  by  adopt- 
ing the  nicknames  that  were  given  their  ancestors.  In- 
dian names  are  difficult  to  pronounce.  What,  for  ex- 
ample, would  you  call  Mr.  Jamshijdji  or  Mr.  Jijibhai, 
and  those  are  comparatively  simple?  Hence,  in  early 
times  it  was  the  habit  of  foreigners  to  call  the  natives 
with  whom  they  came  in  contact  by  names  that  were  ap- 
propriate to  their  character  or  their  business.  For  ex- 
ample, "Mr.  Reporter,"  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Times  of 
India,  as  his  father  was  before  him,  is  known  honorably 
by  a  name  given  by  people  who  were  unable  to  pronounce 
his  father's  Indian  name. 

Sir  Jamsetjed  Jeejeebhoy,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
and  wealthy  Parsees,  who  is  known  all  over  India  for  his 
integrity  and  enterprise,  and  has  given  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  colleges,  schools,  hospitals,  asylums  and  other 
charities,  is  commonly  known  as  Mr.  Bottlewaller. 
"Waller"  is  the  native  word  for  trader,  and  his  grand- 
father was  engaged  in  selling  and  manufacturing  bottles. 
He  began  by  picking  up  empty  soda  and  brandy  bottles 
about  the  saloons,  clubs  and  hotels,  and  in  that  humble 


i8  MODERN  INDIA 

way  laid  the  foundation  of  an  immense  fortune  and  a  rep- 
utation that  any  man  might  envy.  The  family  have  al- 
ways signed  their  letters  and  checks  "Bottlewaller,"  and 
have  been  known  by  that  name  in  business  and  society. 
But  when  Queen  Victoria  made  the  grandfather  a  bar- 
onet because  of  distinguished  services,  the  title  was  con- 
ferred upon  Jamsetjed  Jeejeebhoy,  which  was  his  lawful 
name. 

Another  similar  case  is  that  of  the  Petit  family,  one  of 
the  richest  in  India  and  the  owners  and  occupants  of  the 
finest  palaces  in  Bombay.  Their  ancestor,  or  the  first  of 
the  family  who  distinguished  himself,  was  a  man  of  very 
small  stature,  almost  a  dwarf,  who  was  known  as  Le 
Petit.  He  accepted  the  christening  and  bore  the  name 
honorably,  as  his  sons  and  grandsons  have  since  done. 
They  are  now  baronets,  but  have  never  dropped  it,  and 
the  present  head  of  the  house  is  Sir  Manockji  Petit. 

The  Eye  of  India,  as  Bombay  is  called,  sits  on  an  island 
facing  the  Arabian  Sea  on  one  side  and  a  large  bay  on 
the  other,  but  the  water  is  quite  shallow,  except  where 
channels  have  been  dredged  to  the  docks.  The  scenery  is 
not  attractive.  Low  hills  rise  in  a  semicircle  from  the 
horizon,  half  concealed  by  a  curtain  of  mist,  and  a  few 
green  islands  scattered  about  promiscuously  are  occupied 
by  hospitals,  military  barracks,  villas  and  plantations. 
Nor  is  the  harbor  impressive.  It  is  not  worth  description, 
but  the  pile  of  buildings  which  rises  on  the  city  side  as  the 
steamer  approaches  its  dock  is  imposing,  being  a  pic- 
turesque mingling  of  oriental  and  European  architecture. 
Indeed,  I  do  not  know  of  any  city  that  presents  a  braver 
front  to  those  who  arrive  by  sea.  At  the  upper  end,  which 
you  see  first,  is  a  group  of  five-story  apartment  houses, 
with  oriental  balconies  and  colonnades.     Then  comes  a 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  19 

monstrous  new  hotel,  built  by  a  stock  company  under  the 
direction  of  the  late  J.  N.  Tata,  a  Parsee  merchant  who 
visited  the  United  States  several  times  and  obtained  his 
inspirations  and  many  of  his  ideas  there.  Beside  the 
hotel  rise  the  buildings  of  the  yacht  club,  a  hospitable  as- 
sociation of  Englishmen,  to  which  natives,  no  matter  how 
great  and  good  they  may  be,  are  never  admitted.  Con- 
nected with  the  club  is  an  apartment  house  for  gentlemen, 
and  so  hospitable  are  the  members  that  a  traveler  can 
secure  quarters  there  without  difficulty  if  he  brings  a  let- 
ter of  introduction. 

Next  toward  the  docks  is  an  old  castle  whose  gray  and 
lichen-covered  walls  are  a  striking  contrast  to  the  new 
modern  buildings  that  surround  it.  These  walls  inclose  a 
considerable  area,  which  by  courtesy  is  called  a  fort.  It 
was  a  formidable  defense  at  one  time,  and  has  been  the 
scene  of  much  exciting  history,  but  is  obsolete  now.  The 
walls  are  of  heavy  masonry,  but  a  shot  from  a  modern 
gun  would  shatter  them.  They  inclose  the  military  head- 
quarters of  the  Bombay  province,  or  Presidency,  as  it  is 
called  in  the  Indian  gazetteer,  the  cathedral  of  this  diocese, 
quarters  and  barracks  for  the  garrison,  an  arsenal,  mag- 
azines and  other  military  buildings  and  a  palatial  sailors' 
home,  one  of  the  finest  and  largest  institution  of  the  kind 
in  the  world,  which  is  supported  by  contributions  from 
the  various  shipping  companies  that  patronize  this  place. 
There  are  also  several  machine  shops,  factories  and  ware- 
houses which  contain  vast  stores  of  war  material  of  every 
sort  sufficient  to  equip  an  army  at  a  fortnight's  notice. 
About  twelve  hundred  men  are  constantly  employed  in 
the  arsenal  and  shops  making  and  repairing  military  arms 
and  equipments.  There  is  a  museum  of  ancient  weapons, 
and  many  which  were  captured  from  the  natives  in  the 


20  MODERx\  INDIA 

early  days  of  India's  occupation  are  quite  curious ;  and 
there  the  visitor  will  have  his  first  view  of  one  of  the 
greatest  wonders  of  nature,  a  banyan  tree,  which  drops 
its  branches  to  take  root  in  the  soil  beneath  its  over- 
spreading boughs.  But  you  must  wait  until  you  get  to 
Calcutta  before  you  can  see  the  best  specimens. 

Bombay  is  not  fortified,  except  by  a  few  guns  behind 
some  earthworks  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  but  it 
must  be  if  the  Russians  secure  a  port  upon  the  Arabian 
Sea ;  not  only  Bombay,  but  the  entire  west  coast  of  India. 
The  only  protection  for  the  city  now  is  a  small  fleet  of 
battle  ships,  monitors  and  gunboats  that  lie  in  the  harbor, 
and  there  are  usually  several  visiting  men  of  war  at  the 
anchorage. 

Bombay  is  the  second  city  in  population  in  India,  Cal- 
cutta standing  first  on  the  list  with  1,350,000  people,  and, 
if  you  will  take  your  map  for  a  moment,  you  will  see  that 
the  two  cities  lie  in  almost  the  same  latitude,  one  on  each 
side  of  the  monstrous  peninsula — Bombay  at  the  top  of 
the  Arabian  Sea  and  Calcutta  at  the  top  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal.  By  the  census  of  1891  Bombay  had  821,764  pop- 
ulation. By  the  census  of  1901  the  total  was  776,006,  the 
decrease  of  45,758  being  attributed  to  the  frightful  mor- 
tality by  the  plague  in  1900  and  1901.  It  is  the  most  en- 
terprising, the  most  modern,  the  most  active,  the  richest 
and  the  most  prosperous  city  in  India.  More  than  90  per 
cent  of  the  travelers  who  enter  and  leave  the  country  pass 
over  the  docks,  and  more  than  half  the  foreign  commerce 
of  the  country  goes  through  its  custom-house.  It  is  by 
all  odds  the  finest  city  between  modern  Cairo  and  San 
Francisco,  and  its  commercial  and  industrial  interests  ex- 
ceed that  of  any  other. 

The  arrangements  for  landing  passengers  are  admir- 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  21 

able.  On  the  ship  all  our  baggage  was  marked  with 
numbers  corresponding  to  that  of  our  declaration  to  the 
collector  of  customs.  The  steamer  anchored  out  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  a  fine  covered  pier.  We  were  de- 
tained on  board  until  the  baggage,  even  our  small  pieces, 
was  taken  ashore  on  one  launch  and  after  a  while  we  fol- 
lowed it  on  another.  Upon  reaching  the  dock  we  passed 
up  a  long  aisle  to  where  several  deputy  collectors  were 
seated  behind  desks.  As  we  gave  our  names  they  looked 
through  the  bundles  of  declarations  which  had  been 
arranged  alphabetically,  and,  finding  the  proper  one,  told 
us  that  we  would  have  to  pay  a  duty  of  5  per  cent  upon 
our  typewriter  and  kodaks,  and  that  a  receipt  and  certif- 
icate would  be  furnished  by  which  we  could  recover  the 
money  at  any  port  by  which  we  left  India.  Nothing  else 
was  taxed,  although  I  noticed  that  nearly  every  passenger 
had  to  pay  on  something  else.  There  is  only  one  rate  of 
duty — 5  per  cent  ad  valorem  upon  everything — jewelry, 
furniture,  machinery — all  pay  the  same,  which  simplified 
the  transaction.  But  the  importation  of  arms  and  am- 
munition is  strictly  prohibited  and  every  gun,  pistol  and 
cartridge  is  confiscated  in  the  custom-house  unless  the 
owner  can  present  evidence  that  he  is  an  officer  of  the 
army  or  navy  and  that  they  are  the  tools  of  his  trade,  or 
has  a  permit  issued  by  the  proper  authority.  This  pre- 
caution is  intended  to  anticipate  any  conspiracy  similar  to 
that  which  led  to  the  great  mutiny  of  1857.  The  natives 
are  not  allowed  to  carry  guns  or  even  to  own  them,  and 
every  gun  or  other  weapon  found  in  the  hands  of  a  Hindu 
is  confiscated  unless  he  has  a  permit.  And  as  an  addi- 
tional precaution  the  rifles  issued  to  the  native  regiments 
in  the  army  have  a  range  of  only  twelve  hundred  yards, 
while  those  issued  to  the  white  regiments  will  kill  at  six- 


22  MODERN  INDIA 

teen  hundred  yards ;  thus  giving  the  latter  an  important 
advantage  in  case  of  an  insurrection. 

After  having  interviewed  the  deputy  collector,  we  were 
admitted  to  a  great  pen  or  corral  in  the  middle  of  the  pier, 
which  is  inclosed  by  a  high  fence,  and  there  found  all  our 
luggage  piled  up  together  on  a  bench.  And  all  the  trunks 
and  bags  and  baskets  from  the  ship  were  similarly  as- 
sorted, according  to  the  numbers  they  bore.  We  were 
not  asked  to  open  anything,  none  of  our  packages  were 
examined,  the  declarations  of  passengers  usually  being 
accepted  as  truthful  and  final  unless  the  inspectors  have 
reason  to  believe  or  suspect  deception.  Gangs  of  coolies 
in  livery,  each  wearing  a  brass  tag  with  his  number,  stood 
by  ready  to  seize  the  baggage  and  carry  it  to  the  hotel 
wagons,  which  stood  outside,  where  we  followed  it  and 
directed  by  a  polite  Sikh  policeman,  took  the  first  carriage 
in  line.  Everything  was  conducted  in  a  most  orderly 
manner.  There  was  no  confusion,  no  jostling  and  no  ex- 
citement, which  indicates  that  the  Bombay  officials  have 
correct  notions  of  what  is  proper  and  carry  them  into 
practice. 

The  docks  of  Bombay  are  the  finest  in  Asia,  and  when 
the  extensions  now  in  progress  are  carried  out  few  cities 
in  Europe  can  surpass  them.  They  are  planned  for  a  cen- 
tury in  advance.  The  people  of  Bombay  are  not  boastful, 
but  they  are  confident  of  the  growth  of  their  city  and  its 
commerce.  Attached  to  the  docks  is  a  story  of  integrity 
and  fidelity  worth  telling.  In  1735  the  municipal  author- 
ities of  the  young  city,  anticipating  commercial  prosper- 
ity, decided  to  improve  their  harbor  and  build  piers  for 
the  accommodation  of  vessels,  but  nobody  around  the 
place  had  experience  in  such  matters  and  a  commission 
was  sent  off  to  other  cities  of  India  to  find  a  man  to  take 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  23 

charge.  The  commission  was  very  much  pleased  with  the 
appearance  and  abihty  of  Lowji  Naushirwanji,  the  Par- 
see  foreman  of  the  harbor  at  the  neighboring  town  of 
Surat,  and  tried  to  coax  him  away  by  making  a  very 
lucrative  offer,  much  in  advance  of  the  pay  he  was  then 
receiving.  He  was  too  loyal  and  honest  to  accept  it,  and 
read  the  commission  a  lecture  on  business  integrity  which 
greatly  impressed  them.  When  they  returned  to  Bombay 
and  related  their  experience,  the  municipal  authorities 
communicated  with  those  of  Surat  and  inclosed  an  invita- 
tion to  Naushirwanji  to  come  down  and  build  a  dock  for 
Bombay.  The  offer  was  so  advantageous  that  his  em- 
ployers advised  him  to  accept  it.  He  did  so,  and  from 
that  day  to  this  a  man  of  his  name,  and  one  of  his  de- 
scendants, has  been  superintendent  of  the  docks  of  this 
city.  The  office  has  practically  become  hereditary  in  the 
family. 

A  decided  sensation  awaits  the  traveler  when  he  passes 
out  from  the  pier  into  the  street,  particularly  if  it  is  his 
first  visit  to  the  East,  He  already  has  had  a  glimpse  of 
the  gorgeous  costumes  of  the  Hindu  gentleman  and  the 
priestly  looking  Parsees,  and  the  long,  cool  white  robes 
of  the  common  people,  for  several  of  each  class  were 
gathered  at  the  end  of  the  pier  to  welcome  friends  who 
arrived  by  the  steamer,  but  the  moment  that  he  emerges 
from  the  dock  he  enters  a  new  and  a  strange  world  filled 
with  vivid  colors  and  fantastic  costumes.  He  sees  his 
first  "gherry,"  a  queer-looking  vehicle  made  of  bamboo, 
painted  in  odd  patterns  and  bright  tints,  and  drawn  by  a 
cow  or  a  bullock  that  will  trot  almost  as  fast  as  a  horse. 
All  vehicles,  however,  are  now  called  "gherrys"  in  India, 
no  matter  where  they  come  from  nor  how  they  are  built — 


24  MODERN  INDIA 

the  chariot  of  the  viceroy  as  well  as  the  little  donkey  cart 
of  the  native  fruit  peddler. 

The  extent  of  bare  flesh  visible — masculine  and  fem- 
inine— startles  you  at  first,  and  the  scanty  apparel  worn 
by  the  common  people  of  both  sexes.  Working  women 
walk  by  with  their  legs  bare  from  the  thighs  down,  wear- 
ing nothing  but  a  single  garment  wrapped  in  graceful 
folds  around  their  slender  bodies.  They  look  very  small, 
compared  with  the  men,  and  the  first  question  every 
stranger  asks  is  the  reason.  You  are  told  that  they  are 
married  in  infancy,  that  they  begin  to  bear  children  by  the 
time  they  are  12  and  14  years  old,  and  consequently  do 
not  have  time  to  grow ;  and  perhaps  that  is  the  correct 
explanation  for  the  diminutive  stature  of  the  women  of 
India.  There  are  exceptions.  You  see  a  few  stalwart 
amazons,  but  ninety  per  cent  or  more  of  the  sex  are  under 
size.  Perhaps  there  is  another  reason,  which  does  not 
apply  to  the  upper  classes,  and  that  is  the  manual  labor 
the  coolies  women  perform,  the  loads  they  carry  on  their 
heads  and  the  heavy  lifting  that  is  required  of  them.  If 
you  approach  a  building  in  course  of  erection  you  will 
find  that  the  stone,  brick,  mortar  and  other  material  is 
carried  up  the  ladders  and  across  the  scaffolding  on  the 
heads  of  women  and  girls,  and  some  of  these  "hod  car- 
riers" are  not  more  than  10  or  12  years  old.  They  carry 
everything  on  their  heads,  and  usually  it  requires  two 
other  women  or  girls  to  hoist  the  heavy  burden  to  the 
head  of  the  third.  All  the  weight  comes  on  the  spine, 
and  must  necessarily  prevent  or  retard  growth,  although 
it  gives  them  an  erect  and  stately  carriage,  which  women 
in  America  might  imitate  with  profit.  At  the  same  time, 
perhaps,  our  women  might  prefer  to  acquire  their  car- 


THE  EYE  OF  INDIA  25 

riage  in  some  other  way  than  "toting"  a  hodful  of  bricks 
to  the  top  of  a  four-story  building. 

The  second  thing  that  impresses  you  is  the  amount  of 
glistening  silver  the  working  women  wear  upon  their 
naked  limbs.  To  drop  into  poetry,  like  Silas  Wegg,  they 
wear  rings  in  their  noses  and  rings  on  their  toeses,  and 
bands  of  silver  wherever  they  can  fasten  them  on  their 
arms  and  legs  and  neck.  They  have  bracelets,  anklets, 
armlets,  necklaces,  and  their  noses  as  well  as  their  ears 
are  pierced  for  pendants.  You  wonder  how  a  woman  can 
eat,  drink  or  sleep  with  a  great  big  ornament  hanging 
over  her  lips,  and  some  of  the  earrings  must  weigh  sev- 
eral ounces,  for  they  fall  almost  to  the  shoulders.  You 
will  meet  a  dozen  coolie  women  every  block  with  two  or 
three  pounds  of  silver  ornaments  distributed  over  their 
persons,  which  represent  their  savings  bank,  for  every 
spare  rupee  is  invested  in  a  ring,  bracelet  or  a  necklace, 
which,  of  course,  does  not  pay  interest,  but  can  be  dis- 
posed of  for  full  value  in  case  of  an  emergency.  The 
workmanship  is  rude,  but  the  designs  are  often  pretty, 
and  a  collection  of  the  silver  ornaments  worn  by  Hindu 
women  would  make  an  interesting  exhibit  for  a  museum. 
They  are  often  a  burden  to  them,  particularly  in  hot 
weather,  when  they  chafe  and  burn  the  flesh,  and  our 
Bombay  friends  tell  us  that  in  the  summer  the  fountain 
basins,  the  hydrants  and  every  other  place  where  water 
can  be  found  will  be  surrounded  by  women  bathing  the 
spots  where  the  silver  ornaments  have  seared  the  skin  and 
cooling  the  metal,  which  is  often  so  hot  as  to  burn  the 
fingers. 

Another  feature  of  Bombay  life  which  immediately 
seizes  the  attention  is  the  gay  colors  worn  by  everybody, 
which  makes  the  streets  look  like  animated  rainbows  or 


26  MODERN  INDIA 

the  kaleidoscopes  that  you  can  buy  at  the  lo-cent  stores. 
Orange  and  scarlet  predominate,  but  yellow,  pink,  purple, 
green,  blue  and  every  other  tint  that  was  ever  invented 
appears  in  the  robes  of  the  Hindus  you  meet  upon  the 
street.  A  dignified  old  gentleman  will  cross  your  path 
with  a  pink  turban  on  his  head  and  a  green  scarf  wound 
around  his  shoulders.  The  next  man  you  meet  may  have 
a  pair  of  scarlet  stockings,  a  purple  robe  and  a  tunic  of 
wine-colored  velvet  embroidered  in  gold.  There  seems 
to  be  no  rule  or  regulation  about  the  use  of  colors  and  no 
set  fashion  for  raiment.  The  only  uniformity  in  the  cos- 
tume worn  by  the  men  of  India  is  that  everybody's  legs 
are  bare.  Most  men  wear  sandals ;  some  wear  shoes,  but 
trousers  are  as  rare  as  stovepipe  hats.  The  native  mer- 
chant goes  to  his  counting-room,  the  banker  to  his  desk, 
the  clergyman  discourses  from  a  pulpit,  the  lawyer  ad- 
dresses the  court,  the  professor  expounds  to  his  students 
and  the  coolie  carries  his  load,  all  with  limbs  naked  from 
the  ankles  to  the  thighs,  and  never  more  than  half-con- 
cealed by  a  muslin  divided  skirt. 

The  race,  the  caste  and  often  the  province  of  a  resi- 
dent of  India  may  be  determined  by  his  headgear.  The 
Parsees  wear  tall  fly-trap  hats  made  of  horse  hair,  with 
a  top  like  a  cow's  foot ;  the  Mohammedans  wear  the  fez, 
and  the  Hindus  the  turban,  and  there  are  infinite  varieties 
of  turbans,  both  in  the  material  used  and  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  put  up.  An  old  resident  of  India  can  us- 
ually tell  where  a  man  comes  from  by  looking  at  his 
turban. 


II 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY 


There  are  two  cities  in  Bombay,  the  native  city  and  the 
foreign  city.  The  foreign  city  spreads  out  over  a  large 
area,  and,  although  the  population  is  only  a  small  per  cent 
of  that  of  the  native  city,  it  occupies  a  much  larger  space, 
which  is  devoted  to  groves,  gardens,  lawns,  and  other 
breathing  places  and  pleasure  grounds,  while,  as  is  the 
custom  in  the  Orient,  the  natives  are  packed  away  several 
hundred  to  the  acre  in  tall  houses,  which,  with  over- 
hanging balconies  and  tile  roofs,  line  the  crooked  and 
narrow  streets  on  both  sides.  Behind  some  of  these  tall 
and  narrow  fronts,  however,  are  dwellings  that  cover  a 
good  deal  of  ground,  being  much  larger  than  the  houses 
we  are  accustomed  to,  because  the  Hindus  have  larger 
families  and  they  all  live  together.  When  a  young  man 
marries  he  brings  his  bride  home  to  his  father's  house, 
unless  his  mother-in-law  happens  to  be  a  widow,  when 
they  often  take  up  their  abode  with  her.  But  it  is  not 
common  for  young  couples  to  have  their  own  homes ; 
hence  the  dwellings  in  the  native  quarters  are  packed 
with  several  generations  of  the  same  family,  and  that 
makes  the  occupants  easy  prey  to  plagues,  famine  and 
other  agents  of  human  destruction. 

The  Parsees  love  air  and  light,  and  many  rich  Hindus 
have  followed  the  foreign  colony  out  into  the  sub- 
urbs, where  you  find  a  succession  of  handsome  villas  or 

27 


28  MODERN  INDIA 

bungalows,  as  they  arc  called,  half-hidden  by  high  walls 
that  inclose  charming  gardens.  Some  of  these  bungalows 
are  very  attractive,  some  are  even  sumptuous  in  their  ap- 
pointments— veritable  palaces,  filled  with  costly  furniture 
and  ornaments — but  the  climate  forbids  the  use  of  many 
of  the  creature  comforts  which  American  and  European 
taste  demands.  The  floors  must  be  of  tiles  or  cement  and 
the  curtains  of  bamboo,  because  hangings,  carpets,  rugs 
and  upholstery  furnish  shelter  for  destructive  and  disa- 
greeable insects,  and  the  aim  of  everybody  is  to  secure  as 
much  air  as  possible  without  admitting  the  heat. 

Bombay  is  justly  proud  of  her  public  buildings.  Few 
cities  have  such  a  splendid  array.  None  that  I  have  ever 
visited  except  Vienna  can  show  an  assemblage  so  im- 
posing, with  such  harmony  and  artistic  uniformity  com- 
bined with  convenience  of  location,  taste  of  arrangement 
and  general  architectural  efifect.  There  is  nothing,  of 
course,  in  Bombay  that  will  compare  with  our  Capitol  or 
Library  at  Washington,  and  its  state  and  municipal  build- 
ings cannot  compete  individually  with  the  Parliament 
House  in  London,  the  Hotel  de  Ville  de  Paris  or  the 
Palace  of  Justice  in  Brussels,  or  many  others  I  might 
name.  But  neither  Washington  nor  London  nor  Paris 
nor  any  other  European  or  American  city  possesses  such 
a  broad,  shaded  boulevard  as  Bombay,  with  the  Indian 
Ocean  upon  one  side  and  on  the  other,  stretching  for  a 
mile  or  more,  a  succession  of  stately  edifices,  Vienna  has 
the  boulevard  and  the  buildings,  but  lacks  the  water 
effect.  It  is  as  if  all  the  buildings  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  were  scattered  along  the  lake  front  in  Chicago 
from  the  river  to  Twelfth  street. 

The  Bombay  buildings  are  a  mixture  of  Hindu,  Gothic 
and  Saracenic  architecture,  blended  with  taste  and  sue- 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  29 

cess,  and  in  the  center,  to  crown  the  group,  rises  a  stately 
clock  tower  of  beautiful  proportions.  All  of  these  build- 
ings have  been  erected  during  the  last  thirty  years,  the 
most  of  them  with  public  money,  many  by  private  munif- 
icence. The  material  is  chiefly  green  and  gray  stone. 
Each  has  ample  approaches  from  all  directions,  which 
contribute  to  the  general  effect,  and  is  surrounded  by 
large  grounds,  so  that  it  can  be  seen  to  advantage  from 
any  point  of  view.  Groves  of  full-grown  trees  furnish  a 
noble  background,  and  wide  lawns  stretch  before  and  be- 
tween. There  is  parking  along  the  shore  of  the  bay,  then 
a  broad  drive,  with  two  sidewalks,  a  track  for  bicycles 
and  a  soft  path  for  equestrians,  all  overhung  with  far- 
stretching  boughs  of  immense  and  ancient  trees,  which 
furnish  a  grateful  shade  against  the  sun  and  add  to  the 
beauty  of  the  landscape.  I  do  not  know  of  any  such 
driveway  elsewhere,  and  it  extends  for  several  miles, 
starting  from  an  extensive  common  or  parade  ground, 
which  is  given  up  to  games  and  sports.  Poor  people  are 
allowed  to  camp  there  in  tents  in  hot  weather,  for  there, 
if  anywhere,  they  can  keep  cool,  because  the  peninsula 
upon  which  Bombay  stands  is  narrow  at  that  point,  and  if 
a  breeze  is  blowing  from  any  direction  they  get  it.  At  in- 
tervals the  boulevard  is  intersected  by  small,  well-kept 
parks  with  band  stands,  and  is  broken  by  walks,  drives, 
beds  of  flowers,  foliage,  plants  and  other  landscape  decor- 
ations ;  and  this  in  the  midst  of  a  great  city. 

On  the  inside  of  the  boulevard,  following  the  contour 
of  the  shore  of  the  bay,  is  first,  Elphinstone  College,  then 
the  Secretariat,  which  is  the  headquarters  of  the  govern- 
ment and  contains  several  state  apartments  of  noble  pro- 
portions and  costly  decorations.  The  building  is  443  feet 
long,   with   a   tower   170   feet   high.     Next  it   are   the 


30  MODERN  INDIA 

buildings  of  the  University  of  Bombay,  a  library  with  a 
tower  260  feet  high,  a  convocation  hall  of  beautiful  de- 
sign and  perfect  proportions  and  other  buildings.  Then 
comes  the  Courts  of  Justice ;  an  immense  structure  nearly 
600  feet  long,  with  a  tower  175  feet  high,  which  resem- 
bles the  Law  Courts  of  London,  and  is  as  appropriate  as 
it  is  imposing.  The  department  of  public  works  has  the 
next  building;  then  the  postoffice  department,  the  tele- 
graph department,  the  state  archives  building  and  patent 
office  in  order.  The  town  hall  contains  several  fine  rooms 
and  important  historic  pictures.  The  mint  is  close  to  the 
town  hall,  and  next  beyond  it  are  the  offices  of  the  Port 
Trust,  which  would  correspond  to  our  harbor  commis- 
sioners. Then  follow  in  order  the  Holy  Trinity  Church, 
the  High  School,  St.  Xavier's  College,  the  Momey  In- 
stitute, Wilson  College,  long  rows  of  barracks,  officers' 
quarters  and  clubs,  the  Sailors'  Home,  several  hospitals, 
a  school  of  art  and  Elphinstone  High  School,  which  is 
452  by  370  feet  in  size  and  one  of  the  most  palatial  educa- 
tional institutions  I  have  ever  seen,  the  splendid  group 
culminating  in  the  Victoria  Railway  station,  which  is  the 
finest  in  the  world  and  almost  as  large  as  any  we  have  in 
the  United  States. 

It  is  a  vast  building  of  Italian  Gothic,  with  oriental 
towers  and  pinnacles,  elaborately  decorated  with  sculp- 
ture and  carving,  and  a  large  central  dome  surmounted 
by  a  huge  bronze  figure  of  Progress.  The  architect  was 
Mr.  F,  W.  Stevens,  a  Bombay  engineer ;  it  was  finished  in 
1888  at  a  cost  of  $2,500,000,  and  the  wood  carving,  the 
tiles,  the  ornamental  iron  and  brass  railings,  the  grills  for 
the  ticket  offices,  the  restaurant  and  refreshment  rooms, 
the  balustrades  for  the  grand  staircases,  are  all  the  work 
of  the  students  of  the  Bombay  School  of  Art,  which  gives 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  31 

it  additional  interest,  although  critics  have  contended  that 
the  architecture  and  decorations  are  too  ornate  for  the 
purpose  for  which  it  is  used. 

Wilson  College,  one  of  the  most  imposing  of  the  long 
line  of  buildings,  is  a  memorial  to  a  great  Scotch  mission- 
ary who  lived  a  strenuous  and  useful  life  and  impressed 
his  principles  and  his  character  upon  the  people  of  India 
in  a  remarkable  manner.  He  was  famous  for  his  common 
sense  and  accurate  judgment ;  and  till  the  end  of  his  days 
retained  the  respect  and  confidence  of  every  class  of  the 
community,  from  the  viceroy  and  the  council  of  state  down 
to  the  coolies  that  sweep  the  streets.  All  of  them  knew 
and  loved  Dr.  Wilson,  and  although  he  never  ceased  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ,  his  Master,  with  the  energy, 
zeal  and  plain  speaking  that  is  characteristic  of  Scotch- 
men, the  Hindus,  Mohammedans,  Parsees,  Jains,  Jews 
and  every  other  sect  admired  and  encouraged  him  as 
much  as  those  of  his  own  faith. 

One-fourth  of  all  these  buildings  were  presented  to  the 
city  by  rich  and  patriotic  residents,  most  of  them  Parsees 
and  Hindus.  The  Sailors'  Home  was  the  gift  of  the  Ma- 
harajah of  Baroda ;  University  Hall  was  founded  by  Sir 
Cowasjee  Jehangir  Readymoney,  who  also  built  Elphin- 
stone  College.  He  placed  the  great  fountain  in  front  of 
the  cathedral,  and,  although  a  Parsee,  built  the  spire  on 
the  Church  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist. 

Mr.  Dharmsala,  another  Parsee,  built  the  Ophthalmic 
Hospital  and  the  European  Strangers'  Home  and  put 
drinking  fountains  about  the  town.  David  Sassoon,  a 
Persian  Jew,  founded  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  and  his 
brother.  Sir  Albert  Sassoon,  built  the  tower  of  the  Elphin- 
stone  High  School.  Mr.  Premchand  Raichand  built  the 
university   library   and   clock   tower  in   memory   of  his 


32  MODERN  INDIA 

mother.  Sir  Jamsetji  Jijibhal  gave  the  school  of  art  and 
the  Parsee  Benevolent  Institute ;  the  sons  of  Jarahji 
Parak  erected  the  almshouse.  Mr.  Rustam  Jamshidji 
founded  the  Hospital  for  Women,  the  East  India  Com- 
pany built  the  Town  Hall  and  other  men  gave  other  build-- 
ings  with  the  greatest  degree  of  public  spirit  and  patriot- 
ism I  have  ever  seen  displayed  in  any  town.  The  guide- 
book says  that  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  patri- 
otic residents  of  Bombay,  mostly  natives,  have  given  more 
than  $5,000,000  for  public  edifices.  It  is  a  new  form  for 
the  expression  of  patriotism  that  might  be  encouraged  in 
the  United  States. 

Several  statues  were  also  gifts  to  the  city;  that  of 
Queen  Victoria,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  I  have  ever 
seen,  having  been  erected  by  the  Maharajah  of  Baroda, 
and  that  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  by  Sir  Edward  Beohm. 
These  are  the  best,  but  there  are  several  others.  Queen 
Victoria's  monument,  which  stands  in  the  most  prominent 
plaza,  where  the  busiest  thoroughfares  meet,  represents 
that  good  woman  sitting  upon  her  throne  under  a  lofty 
Gothic  canopy  of  marble.  The  carving  is  elaborate  and 
exquisite.  In  the  center  of  the  canopy  appears  the  Star 
of  India,  and  above  it  the  Rose  of  England,  united  with 
the  Lotus  of  India,  with  the  mottoes  of  both  countries  in- 
tertwined— "God  and  My  Right"  and  "Heaven's  Light 
Our  Guide." 

Queen  Victoria  was  no  stranger  to  the  people  of  India. 
They  felt  a  personal  relationship  with  their  empress,  and 
many  touching  incidents  are  told  that  have  occurred  from 
time  to  time  to  illustrate  the  aflfection  of  the  Hindus  for 
her.  They  were  taught  to  call  her  "The  Good  Lady  of 
England,"  and  almost  every  mail,  while  she  was  living, 
carried  letters  from  India  to  London  bearing  that  address. 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  33 

They  came  mostly  from  Hindu  women  who  had  learned 
of  her  goodness,  sympathy  and  benevolence  and  hired 
public  scribes  at  the  market  places  to  tell  her  of  their  suf- 
ferings and  wrongs. 

In  the  center  of  another  plaza  facing  a  street  called 
Rampart  row,  which  is  lined  by  lofty  buildings  containing 
the  best  retail  shops  in  town,  is  a  figure  of  Edward  VH. 
in  bronze,  on  horseback,  presented  by  a  local  merchant. 
Near  the  cathedral  is  a  statute  to  Lord  Cornwallis,  who 
was  governor  general  of  India  in  1786,  and,  as  the  in- 
scription informs  us,  died  at  Ghazipur,  Oct.  5,  1805. 
This  was  erected  by  the  merchants  of  Bombay,  who  paid 
a  similar  honor  to  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  younger 
brother  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  was  also  gov- 
ernor general  during  the  days  of  the  East  India  Company, 
and  did  a  great  deal  for  the  country.  He  was  given  a 
purse  of  $100,000,  and  his  statue  was  erected  in  Bombay, 
but  he  died  unhappy  because  the  king  refused  to  create 
him  Duke  of  Hindustan,  the  only  honor  that  would  have 
satisfied  his  soul.  There  are  several  fine  libraries  in  Bom- 
bay, and  the  Asiatic  Society,  which  has  existed  since  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  has  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  valuable  collections  of  oriental  literature 
in  existence. 

For  three  miles  and  a  half  the  boulevard,  and  its  sev- 
eral branches  are  bounded  by  charming  residences,  which 
overlook  the  bay  and  the  roofs  of  the  city.  Malabar  Point 
at  the  end  of  the  drive,  the  extreme  end  of  the  island 
upon  which  Bombay  is  built,  is  the  government  house,  the 
residence  of  the  Lord  Lamington,  who  represents  King 
Edward  VII.  in  this  beautiful  city.  It  is  a  series  of  bung- 
alows, with  large,  cool  rooms  and  deep  verandas,  shaded 
by  immense  trees  and  luxurious  vines,  and  has  accom- 


34  MODERN  INDIA 

modations  altogether  for  about  lOO  people.  The  staff  of 
the  governor  is  quite  large.  He  has  all  kinds  of  aides-de- 
camp, secretaries  and  attaches,  and  maintains  quite  a  little 
court.  Indeed,  his  quarters,  his  staff  and  his  style  of  liv- 
ing are  much  more  pretentious  than  those  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  his  salary  is  quite  as  large. 
Everywhere  he  goes  he  is  escorted  by  a  bodyguard  of 
splendid  looking  native  soldiers  in  scarlet  uniforms,  big 
turbans  and  long  spears.  They  are  Sikhs,  from  the  north 
of  India,  the  greatest  fighters  in  the  empire,  men  of  large 
stature,  military  bearing  and  unswerving  loyalty  to  the 
British  crown,  and  when  the  Governor  of  Bombay  drives 
in  to  his  office  in  the  morning  or  drives  back  again  to  his 
lovely  home  at  night,  his  carriage  is  surrounded  by  a 
squad  of  those  tawny  warriors,  who  ride  as  well  as  they 
look. 

About  half-way  on  the  road  to  the  government  house  is 
the  Gymkhana,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  nobody  who  has 
not  been  in  India  can  guess  what  that  means.  And  if  you 
want  another  conundrum,  what  is  a  chotohazree?  It  is 
customary  for  smart  people  to  have  their  chotohazree  at 
the  Gymkhana,  and  I  think  that  you  would  be  pleased  to 
join  them  after  taking  the  beautiful  drive  which  leads  to 
the  place.  Nobody  knows  what  the  word  was  derived 
from,  but  it  is  used  to  describe  a  country  club — a  bung- 
alow hidden  under  a  beautiful  grove  on  the  brow  of  a  cliff 
that  overhangs  the  bay — with  all  of  the  appurtenances, 
golf  links,  tennis  courts,  cricket  grounds,  racquet  courts 
and  indoor  gymnasium,  and  everybody  stops  there  on 
their  afternoon  drive  to  have  chotohazree,  which  is  the 
local  term  for  afternoon  tea  and  for  early  morning  coffee. 

There  are  peculiar  customs  in  Bombay.  The  proper 
time  for  making  visits  everywhere  in  India  is  between  ii 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  35 

a.  m.  and  i  :30  p.  m.,  and  fashionable  ladies  are  always 
at  home  between  those  hours  and  seldom  at  any  other.  It 
seems  unnatural,  because  they  are  the  hottest  of  the  day. 
One  would  think  that  common  sense  as  well  as  comfort 
would  induce  people  to  stay  at  home  at  noon  and  make 
themselves  as  cool  as  possible.  In  other  tropical  coun- 
tries these  are  the  hours  of  the  siesta,  the  noonday  nap, 
which  is  as  common  and  as  necessary  as  breakfast  or  din- 
ner, and  none  but  a  lunatic  would  think  of  calling  upon  a 
friend  after  11  in  the  morning  or  before  3  in  the  after- 
noon. It  would  be  as  ridiculous  as  to  return  a  social  visit 
at  3  or  4  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  same  reasons 
which  govern  that  custom  ought  to  apply  in  India  as  well 
as  in  Egypt,  Cuba  or  Brazil.  But  here  ladies  put  on  their 
best  gowns,  order  their  carriages,  take  their  card  cases, 
and  start  out  in  the  burning  noontide  glare  to  return 
visits  and  make  formal  dinner  and  party  calls.  Strangers 
are  expected  to  do  the  same,  and  if  you  have  letters  of  in- 
troduction you  are  expected  to  present  them  during  those 
hours,  and  not  at  any  other  time.  In  the  cool  of  the  day, 
after  5  o'clock,  everybody  who  owns  or  can  hire  a  car- 
riage goes  out  to  drive,  and  usually  stops  at  the  Gym- 
khana in  the  country  or  at  the  Yacht  Club  in  the  city  for 
chotohazree.  It  is  a  good  custom  to  admit  women  to 
clubs  as  they  do  here.  The  wives  and  daughters  of  mem- 
bers have  every  privilege,  and  can  give  tea  parties  and 
luncheons  in  the  clubhouses,  while  on  certain  evenings  of 
the  week  a  band  is  brought  from  the  miUtary  barracks 
and  everybody  of  any  account  in  European  society  is  ex- 
pected to  be  present.  Tables  are  spread  over  the  lawn, 
and  are  engaged  in  advance  by  ladies,  who  sit  behind 
them,  receive  visits  and  pour  tea  just  as  they  would  do  in 
their  own  houses.    It  is  a  very  pleasant  custom. 


36  MODERN  INDIA 

All  visitors  who  intend  to  remain  in  Bombay  for  any 
length  of  time  are  expected  to  call  upon  the  governor  and 
his  wife,  but  it  is  not  necessary  for  them  to  drive  out  to 
Malabar  Point  for  such  a  purpose.  On  a  table  in  the  re- 
ception room  of  the  government  building  down-town  are 
two  books  in  which  you  write  your  name  and  address, 
and  that  is  considered  equivalent  to  a  formal  visit.  One 
book  is  intended  exclusively  for  those  who  have  been 
"presented"  and  by  signing  it  they  are  reminding  his  ex- 
cellency and  her  excellency  of  their  continued  existence 
and  notifying  them  where  invitations  to  dinners  and  balls 
can  reach  them.  The  other  book  is  designed  for  strangers 
and  travelers,  who  inscribe  their  names  and  professions, 
where  they  live  when  they  are  at  home,  how  long  they 
expect  to  be  in  Bombay  and  where  they  are  stopping. 
Anybody  who  desires  can  sign  this  book  and  the  act  is 
considered  equivalent  to  a  call  upon  the  governor.  If  the 
caller  has  a  letter  of  introduction  to  His  Excellency  he 
can  leave  it,  with  a  card,  in  charge  of  the  clerk  who  looks 
after  the  visitors'  book,  and  if  he  desires  to  see  the  gov- 
ernor personally  for  business  or  social  reasons  he  can  ex- 
press that  desire  upon  a  sheet  of  note  paper,  which  will 
be  attached  to  the  letter  of  introduction  and  delivered 
some  time  during  the  day.  The  latter,  if  he  is  so  disposed 
will  then  give  the  necessary  instructions  and  an  aide-de- 
camp will  send  a  "chit,"  as  they  call  a  note  over  here,  in- 
viting the  traveler  to  call  at  an  hour  named.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  formality  in  official  and  social  life.  The 
ceremonies  and  etiquette  are  modeled  upon  those  of  the 
royal  palaces  in  England,  and  the  governor  of  each 
province,  as  well  as  the  viceroy  of  India  in  Calcutta,  has 
his  little  court. 

A  different  code  of  etiquette  must  be  followed  in  social 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  37 

relations  with  natives,  because  they  do  not  usually  open 
their  houses  to  strangers.  Letters  of  introduction  should 
be  sent  with  cards  by  messengers  or  through  the  mails. 
Then,  if  the  gentleman  to  whom  they  are  addressed  de- 
sires, he  will  call  at  your  hotel.  Many  of  the  wealthier 
natives,  and  especially  the  Parsees,  are  adopting  European 
customs,  but  the  more  conservative  Hindus  still  adhere  to 
their  traditional  exclusive  habits,  their  families  are  in- 
visible and  never  mentioned,  and  strangers  are  never  ad- 
mitted to  their  homes. 

Natives  are  not  admitted  to  the  European  clubs.  There 
is  no  mingling  of  the  races  in  society,  except  in  a  few  iso- 
lated cases  of  wealthy  families,  who  have  been  educated 
in  Europe  and  have  adopted  European  customs.  While 
the  same  prejudice  does  not  exist  theoretically,  there  is 
actually  a  social  gulf  as  wide  and  as  deep  as  that  which 
lies  between  white  and  black  families  in  Savannah  or 
New  Orleans.  Occasionally  there  is  a  marriage  between 
a  European  and  a  native,  but  the  social  consequences 
have  not  encouraged  others  to  imitate  the  example.  Such 
unions  are  not  approved  by  public  sentiment  in  either 
race,  and  are  not  usually  attended  with  happiness.  Some 
of  the  Parsees,  who  are  always  excepted,  and  are  treated 
as  a  distinct  race  and  community,  mingle  with  Europeans 
to  a  certain  degree,  but  even  in  their  case  the  line  is 
sharply  drawn. 

The  native  district  of  Bombay  is  not  so  dirty  nor  so 
densely  populated  as  in  most  other  Indian  cities.  The 
streets  are  wider  and  some  of  them  will  admit  of  a  car- 
riage, although  the  cross-streets  are  nearly  all  too  narrow. 
The  houses  are  from  three  to  five  stories  in  height,  built 
of  brick  or  stone,  with  overhanging  balconies  and  broad 
eaves.    Sometimes  the  entire  front  and  rear  are  of  lattice 


38  MODERN  INDIA 

work,  the  side  walls  being  solid.  Few  of  them  are  plas- 
tered, ceilings  are  unknown  and  partitions,  for  the  sake 
of  promoting  circulation,  seldom  go  more  than  half  way 
to  the  top  of  a  room.  No  glass  is  used,  but  every  window 
has  heavy  blinds  as  a  protection  from  the  hot  air  and  the 
rays  of  the  sun.  While  our  taste  does  not  approve  the 
arrangements  in  many  cases,  experience  has  taught  the 
people  of  India  how  to  live  through  the  hot  summers  with 
the  greatest  degree  of  comfort,  and  anyone  who  attempts 
to  introduce  innovations  is  apt  to  make  mistakes.  The 
fronts  of  many  of  the  houses  are  handsomely  carved  and 
decorated,  the  columns  and  pillars  and  brackets  which 
support  the  balconies,  the  railings,  the  door  frames,  the 
eaves  and  architraves,  are  often  beautiful  examples  of  the 
carvers'  skill,  and  the  exterior  walls  are  usually  painted  in 
gay  colors  and  fanciful  designs.  Within  doors  the  houses 
look  very  bare  to  us,  and  contain  few  comforts. 

The  lower  floor  of  the  house  is  commonly  used  for  a 
shop,  and  dififerent  lines  of  business  are  classified  and 
gathered  in  the  same  neighborhood.  The  food  market, 
the  grocery  and  provision  dealers,  the  dealers  in  cotton 
goods  and  other  fabrics,  the  silk  merchants,  the  shoe  and 
leather  men,  the  workers  in  copper  and  brass,  the  gold- 
smiths, jewelers  and  dealers  in  precious  stones  each  have 
their  street  or  quarter,  which  is  a  great  convenience  to 
purchasers,  and  scattered  among  them  are  frequent  cook- 
shops  and  eating  places,  which  do  not  resemble  our  res- 
taurants in  any  way,  but  have  a  large  patronage.  A  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  population  of  Bombay,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  all  other  Indian  cities,  depends  upon  these 
cook-shops  for  food  as  a  measure  of  economy  and  con- 
venience. People  can  send  out  for  dinner,  lunch,  or 
breakfast  at  any  hour,  and  have  it  served  by  their  own 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  39 

servants  without  being  troubled  to  keep  up  a  kitchen  or 
buy  fuel. 

There  are  said  to  be  6,000  dealers  in  jewelry  and 
precious  stones  in  the  city  of  Bombay,  and  they  all  seem 
to  be  doing  a  flourishing  business,  chiefly  with  the  natives, 
who  are  very  fond  of  display  and  invest  their  money  in 
precious  stones  and  personal  adornments  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, which  are  safer  and  give  more  satisfaction  than 
banks. 

You  can  see  specimens  of  every  race  and  nation  in  the 
native  city,  nearly  always  in  their  own  distinctive  cos- 
tumes, and  they  are  the  source  of  never-ending  interest — 
Arabs,  Persians,  Afghans,  Rajputs,  Parsees,  Chinese, 
Japanese,  Malays,  Lascars,  Negroes  from  Zanzibar,  Mad- 
agascar and  the  Congo,  Abyssinians.  Nubians,  Sikhs, 
Thibetans,  Burmese,  Singalese,  Siamese  and  Bengalis 
mingle  with  Jews,  Greeks  and  Europeans  on  common 
terms,  and,  unlike  the  population  of  most  eastern  cities, 
the  people  of  Bombay  always  seem  to  be  busy. 

Many  enterprises  usually  left  for  the  municipal  author- 
ities of  a  city  to  carry  on  cannot  be  undertaken  by  the 
government  of  India  because  of  the  laws  of  caste,  re- 
ligious customs  and  fanatical  prejudices  of  the  people. 
The  Hindu  allows  no  man  to  enter  his  home ;  the  women 
of  a  Mohammedan  household  are  kept  in  seclusion,  the 
teachings  of  the  priests  are  contrary  to  modern  sanitary 
regulations,  and  if  the  municipal  authorities  should  con- 
demn a  block  of  buildings  and  tear  it  down,  or  discover  a 
nuisance  and  attempt  to  remove  it,  they  might  easily  pro- 
voke a  riot  and  perhaps  a  revolution.  This  has  happened 
frequently.  During  the  last  plague  a  public  tumult  had 
to  be  quelled  by  soldiers  at  a  large  cost  of  life  because  of 
the  efforts  of  the  government  to  isolate  and  quarantine  in- 


40  MODERN  INDIA 

fected  persons  and  houses.  These  pecuHar  conditions 
suggested  in  Bombay  the  advantage  of  a  semi-pubHc 
body  called  "The  Improvement  Trust,"  which  was  organ- 
ized a  few  years  ago  by  Lord  Sandhurst,  then  governor. 
The  original  object  was  to  clear  out  the  slums  and  in- 
fected places  after  the  last  plague,  to  tear  down  blocks  of 
rotten  and  filthy  tenement-houses  and  erect  new  buildings 
on  the  ground ;  to  widen  the  streets,  to  let  air  and  light 
into  moldering,  festering  sink  holes  of  poverty,  vice  and 
wretchedness ;  to  lay  sewers  and  furnish  a  water  supply, 
and  to  redeem  and  regenerate  certain  portions  of  the  city 
that  were  a  menace  to  the  public  health  and  morals.  This 
work  was  intrusted  to  twelve  eminent  citizens,  represent- 
ing each  of  the  races  and  all  of  the  large  interests  in  Bom- 
bay, who  commanded  the  respect  and  enjoyed  the  confi- 
dence of  the  fanatical  clement  of  the  people,  and  would  be 
permitted  to  do  many  things  and  introduce  innovations 
that  would  not  be  tolerated  if  suggested  by  foreigners, 
or  the  government. 

After  the  special  duty  which  they  were  organized  to 
perform  had  been  accomplished  The  Improvement  Trust 
was  made  permanent  as  a  useful  agency  to  undertake 
works  of  public  utility  of  a  similar  character  which  the 
government  could  not  carry  on.  The  twelve  trustees 
serve  without  pay  or  allowances  ;  not  one  of  them  receives 
a  penny  of  compensation  for  his  time  or  trouble,  or  even 
the  reimbursement  of  incidental  expenses  made  necessary 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties.  This  is  an  exhibition  of 
unusual  patriotism,  but  it  is  considered  perfectly  natural 
in  Bombay.  To  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  Trust,  salaried 
officials  are  employed,  and  a  large  force  is  necessary. 
The  trustees  have  assumed  great  responsibilities,  and  sup- 
ply the  place  of  a  board  of  public  works,  with  larger  pow- 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  41 

ers  than  are  usually  granted  to  such  officials.  The  mu- 
nicipality has  turned  over  to  them  large  tracts  of  real 
estate,  some  of  which  has  been  improved  with  great 
profit ;  it  has  secured  funds  by  borrowing  from  banks 
upon  the  personal  credit  of  its  members,  and  by  issuing 
bonds  which  sell  at  a  high  premium,  and  the  money  has 
been  used  in  the  improvement  of  the  city,  in  the  introduc- 
tion of  sanitary  reforms,  in  building  model  tenements  for 
the  poor,  in  creating  institutions  of  public  necessity  or 
advantage  and  by  serving  the  people  in  various  other 
ways. 

The  street  car  system  of  Bombay  belongs  to  an  Amer- 
ican company,  having  been  organized  by  a  Mr.  Kittridge, 
who  came  over  here  as  consul  during  President  Lincoln's 
administration.  Recognizing  the  advantage  of  street  cars, 
in  1874  he  interested  some  American  capitalists  in  the  en- 
terprise, got  a  franchise,  laid  rails  on  a  few  of  the  prin- 
cipal streets  and  has  been  running  horse  cars  ever  since. 

The  introduction  of  electricity  and  the  extension  of  the 
street  railway  system  is  imperatively  needed.  Distances 
are  very  great  in  the  foreign  section,  and  during  the  hot 
months,  from  March  to  November,  it  is  impossible  for 
white  men  to  walk  in  the  sun,  so  that  everybody  is  com- 
pelled to  keep  or  hire  a  carriage ;  while  on  the  other  hand 
the  density  of  the  population  in  other  sections  is  so  great 
as  to  be  a  continual  and  increasing  public  peril.  Bombay 
has  more  than  800,000  inhabitants,  two-thirds  of  whom 
are  packed  into  very  narrow  limits,  and  in  the  native 
quarters  it  is  estimated  that  there  is  one  human  being  to 
every  ten  square  yards  of  space.  It  will  be  realized  that 
this  is  a  dangerous  condition  of  affairs  for  a  city  that  is 
constantly  afflicted  with  epidemics  and  in  which  con- 
tagious diseases  always  prevail.     The  extension  of  the 


42  MODERN  INDIA 

street  car  service  would  do  something  to  relieve  this  con- 
gestion axid  scatter  many  of  the  people  out  among  the 
suburbs,  but  the  Orientals  always  swarm  together  and 
pack  themselves  away  in  most  uncomfortable  and  un- 
healthful  limits,  and  it  will  always  be  a  great  danger  when 
the  plagues  or  the  cholera  come  around.  Multitudes  have 
no  homes  at  all.  They  have  no  property  except  the  one  or 
two  strips  of  dirty  cotton  which  the  police  require  them  to 
wear  for  clothing.  They  lie  down  to  sleep  anywhere,  in 
the  parks,  on  the  sidewalks,  in  hallways,  and  drawing 
their  robes  over  their  faces  are  utterly  indifferent  to  what 
happens.  They  get  their  meals  at  the  cook  shops  for  a 
few  farthings,  eat  when  they  are  hungry,  sleep  when  they 
are  sleepy  and  go  through  life  without  a  fixed  abode. 

In  addition  to  the  street  car  company  the  United  States 
is  represented  by  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  the  Va- 
cuum Oil  Company,  and  the  New  York  Export  and  Im- 
port Company.  Other  American  firms  of  merchants  and 
manufacturers  have  resident  agents,  but  they  are  mostly 
Englishmen  or  Germans. 

There  is,  however,  very  little  demand  in  India  for  agri- 
cultural implements,  although  three-fourths  of  the  people 
are  employed  in  tilling  the  soil.  Each  farmer  owns  or 
rents  a  very  small  piece  of  ground,  hardly  big  enough 
to  justify  the  use  of  anything  but  the  simple,  primitive 
tools  that  have  been  handed  down  to  him  through  long 
lines  of  ancestors  for  3,cxx)  years.  Nearly  all  his  imple- 
ments are  home-made,  or  come  from  the  village  black- 
smith shop,  and  are  of  the  rudest,  most  awkward  descrip- 
tion. They  plow  with  a  crooked  stick,  they  dig  ditches 
with  their  fingers,  and  carry  everything  that  has  to  be 
moved  in  little  baskets  on  their  heads.  The  harvesting  is 
done  with  a  primitive-looking  sickle,  and  root  crops  are 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  43 

taken  out  of  the  ground  with  a  tvvo-tined  fork  with  a 
handle  only  a  foot  long.  The  Hindu  does  everything  in  a 
squatting  posture,  hence  he  uses  only  short-handled  tools. 
Fifty  or  seventy-five  cents  each  would  easily  replace 
the  outfit  of  three-fourths  of  the  farmers  in  the  empire. 
Occasionally  there  is  a  rajah  with  large  estates  under  cul- 
tivation upon  which  modern  machinery  is  used,  but  even 
there  its  introduction  is  discouraged ;  first,  because  the 
natives  are  very  conservative  and  disinclined  to  adopt 
new  means  and  new  methods ;  and,  second,  and  what  is 
more  important,  every  labor-saving  implement  and  ma- 
chine that  comes  into  the  country  deprives  hundreds 
of  poor  coolies  of  employment. 

The  development  of  the  material  resources  of  India  is 
slowly  going  on,  and  mechanical  industries  are  being 
gradually  established,  with  the  encouragement  of  the 
government,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  the  surplus 
labor  from  the  farms  and  villages  and  employing  it  in 
factories  and  mills,  and  in  the  mines  of  southern  India, 
which  are  supposed  to  be  very  rich.  These  enterprises 
offer  limited  possibilities  for  the  sale  of  machinery, 
and  American-made  machines  are  recognized  as  superior 
to  all  others.  There  is  also  a  demand  for  everything  that 
can  be  used  by  the  foreign  population,  which  in  India  is 
numbered  somewhere  about  a  million  people,  but  the 
trade  is  controlled  largely  by  British  merchants  who  have 
life-long  connections  at  home,  and  it  is  difficult  to  remove 
their  prejudices  or  persuade  them  to  see  the  superiority 
of  American  goods.  Nevertheless,  our  manufactories, 
on  their  merits,  are  gradually  getting  a  footing  in  the 
market. 

When  Mark  Twain  was  in  Bombay,  a  few  years  ago, 
he  met  with  an  unusual  experience  for  a  mortal.     He 


44  MODERN  INDIA 

was  a  guest  of  the  late  Mr,  Tata,  a  famous  Parsee  mer- 
chant, and  received  a  great  deal  of  attention.  All  the 
foreigners  in  the  city  knew  him,  and  had  read  his  books, 
and  there  are  in  Bombay  hundreds  of  highly  cultivated 
and  educated  natives.  He  hired  a  servant,  as  every 
stranger  does,  and  was  delighted  when  he  discovered  a 
native  by  the  name  of  Satan  among  the  numerous  appli- 
cants. He  engaged  him  instantly  on  his  name ;  no  other 
recommendation  was  necessary.  To  have  a  servant  by 
the  name  of  Satan  was  a  privilege  no  humorist  had  ever 
before  enjoyed,  and  the  possibilities  to  his  imagination 
were  without  limit.  And  it  so  happened  that  on  the  very 
day  Satan  was  employed,  Prince  Aga  Khan,  the  head  of 
a  Persian  sect  of  Mohammedans,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  a  divine  origin  and  will  be  worshiped  as  a  god  when 
he  dies,  came  to  call  on  Mr.  Clemens.  Satan  was  in  at- 
tendance, and  when  he  appeared  with  the  card  upon  a 
tray,  Mr.  Clemens  asked  if  he  knew  anything  about  the 
caller ;  if  he  could  give  him  some  idea  who  he  was,  be- 
cause, when  a  prince  calls  in  person  upon  an  American 
tourist,  it  is  considered  a  distinguished  honor.  Aga  Khan 
is  well  known  to  everybody  in  Bombay,  and  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  men  in  the  city.  He  is  a  great  favorite 
in  the  foreign  colony,  and  is  as  able  a  scholar  as  he  is  a 
charming  gentleman.  Satan,  with  all  the  reverence  of 
his  race,  appreciated  the  religious  aspect  of  the  visitor 
more  highly  than  any  other,  and  in  reply  to  the  question 
of  his  new  master  explained  that  Aga  Khan  was  a  god. 
It  was  a  very  gratifying  meeting  for  both  gentlemen, 
who  found  each  other  entirely  congenial.  Aga  Khan  has 
a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  had  read  everything  Mark 
Twain  had  written,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  latter 
was  distinctly  impressed  with  the  personality  of  his  caller 


THE  CITY  OF  BOMBAY  45 

That  evening,  when  he  came  down  to  dinner,  his  host 
asked  how  he  had  passed  the  day: 

"I  have  had  the  time  of  my  life,"  was  the  prompt  re- 
ply, "and  the  greatest  honor  I  have  ever  experienced. 
I  have  hired  Satan  for  a  servant,  and  a  God  called  to  tell 
me  how  much  he  liked  Huck  Finn." 


Ill 

SERVANTS,   HOTELS  AND  CAVE  TEMPLES 

Everybody  who  comes  to  India  must  have  a  personal 
servant,  a  native  who  performs  the  duty  of  valet,  waiter 
and  errand  boy  and  does  other  things  that  he  is  told.  It 
is  said  to  be  impossible  to  do  without  one  and  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  is  true,  for  it  is  a  fixed  custom  of  the 
country,  and  when  a  stranger  attempts  to  resist,  or  avoid 
or  reform  the  customs  of  a  country  his  trouble  begins. 
Many  of  the  Indian  hotels  expect  guests  to  bring  their 
own  servants — to  furnish  their  own  chambermaids  and 
waiters — hence  are  short-handed,  and  the  traveler  who 
hasn't  provided  himself  with  that  indispensable  piece  of 
baggage  has  to  look  after  himself.  On  the  railways  a 
native  servant  is  even  more  important,  for  travelers  are 
required  to  carry  their  own  bedding,  make  their  own 
beds  and  furnish  their  own  towels.  The  company  pro- 
vides a  bench  for  them  to  sleep  on,  similar  to  those  we 
have  in  freight  cabooses  at  home,  a  wash  room  and  some- 
times water.  But  if  you  want  to  wash  your  face  and 
hands  in  the  morning  it  is  always  better  to  send  your  ser- 
vant to  the  station  master  before  the  trains  starts  to  see 
that  the  tank  is  filled.  Then  a  naked  Hindu  with  a  goat- 
skin of  water  comes  along,  fills  the  tank  and  stands 
around  touching  his  forehead  respectfully  every  time  you 
look  his  way  until  you  give  him  a  penny.  The  eating 
houses  along  the  railway  lines  also  expect  travelers  to 

46 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       47 

bring  their  own  servants,  who  raid  their  shelves  and 
tables  for  food  and  drink  and  take  it  out  to  the  cars.  That 
is  another  of  the  customs  of  the  country. 

For  these  reasons  a  special  occupation  has  been  cre- 
ated, peculiar  to  India — that  of  travelers'  servants,  or 
"bearers"  as  they  are  called.  I  have  never  been  able  to 
satisfy  myself  as  to  the  derivation  of  the  name.  Some 
wise  men  say  that  formerly,  before  the  days  of  railroads, 
people  were  carried  about  in  sedan  chairs,  as  they  are  still 
in  China,  and  the  men  who  carried  them  were  called 
"bearers ;"  others  contend  that  the  name  is  due  to  the 
circumstance  that  these  servants  bear  the  white  man's 
burden,  which  is  not  at  all  likely.  They  certainly  do  not 
bear  his  baggage.  They  hire  coolies  to  do  it.  A  self-re- 
specting "bearer"  will  employ  somebody  at  your  expense 
to  do  everything  he  can  avoid  doing  and  will  never  de- 
mean himself  by  carrying  a  trunk,  or  a  bag,  or  even  a  par- 
cel. You  give  him  money  to  pay  incidental  expenses,  for 
you  don't  want  him  bothering  you  all  the  time,  and  he 
hires  other  natives  to  do  the  work.  But  his  wages  are 
small.  A  first-class  bearer,  who  can  talk  English  and 
cook,  pack  trunks,  look  after  tickets,  luggage  and  other 
business  of  travel,  serve  as  guide  at  all  places  of  interest 
and  compel  merchants  to  pay  him  a  commission  upon 
everything  his  employer  purchases,  can  be  obtained  for 
forty-five  rupees,  which  is  $15  a  month,  and  keep  him- 
self. He  gets  his  board  for  nothing  at  the  hotels  for 
waiting  on  his  master,  and  on  the  pretext  that  he  induced 
him  to  come  there.  But  you  have  to  pay  his  railway  fare, 
third  class,  and  give  him  $3  to  buy  warm  clothing.  He 
never  buys  it,  because  he  does  not  need  it,  but  that's  an- 
other custom  of  the  country.  Then  again,  at  the  end  of 
the  engagement  he  expects  a  present — a.  little  backsheesh 


48  MODERN  INDIA 

— two  or  three  dollars,  and  a  certificate  that  yon  are 
pleased  with  his  services. 

That  is  the  cost  of  the  highest  priced  man,  who  can 
be  guide  as  well  as  servant,  but  you  can  get  "bearers" 
■with  lesser  accomplishments  for  almost  any  wages,  down 
as  low  as  $2  a  month.  But  they  are  not  only  worthless ; 
they  actually  imperil  your  soul  because  of  their  exasperat- 
ing ways  and  general  cussedness.  You  often  hear  that 
servants  are  cheap  in  India,  that  families  pay  their  cooks 
$3  a  month  and  their  housemen  $2,  which  is  true ;  but 
they  do  not  earn  any  more.  One  Swede  girl  will  do  as 
much  work  as  a  dozen  Hindus,  and  do  it  much  better 
than  they,  and,  what  is  even  more  important  to  the  house- 
wife, can  be  relied  upon.  In  India  women  never  go  out 
to  service  except  as  nurses,  but  in  every  household  you 
will  find  not  less  than  seven  or  eight  men  servants,  and 
sometimes  twenty,  who  receive  from  $1  to  $5  a  month 
each  in  wages,  but  the  total  amounts  up,  and  they  have  to 
be  fed,  and  they  will  steal,  every  one  of  them,  and  lie  and 
loaf,  and  cause  an  infinite  amount  of  trouble  and  confu- 
sion, simply  because  they  are  cheap.  High-priced  ser- 
vants usually  are  an  economy — good  things  always  cost 
money,  but  give  better  satisfaction. 

Another  common  mistake  is  that  Indian  hotel  prices 
are  low.  They  are  just  as  high  as  anywhere  else  in  the 
world  for  the  accommodations.  I  have  noticed  that 
wherever  you  go  the  same  amount  of  luxury  and  com- 
fort costs  about  the  same  amount  of  money.  You  pay 
for  all  you  get  in  an  Indian  hotel.  The  service  is  bad 
because  travelers  are  expected  to  bring  their  own  ser- 
vants to  answer  their  calls,  to  look  after  their  rooms 
and  make  their  beds,  and  in  some  places  to  wait  on  them 
in  the  dining-room.       There  are    no    women  about  the 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       49 

houses.  Men  do  everything,  and  if  they  have  been 
well  trained  as  cleaners  the  hotel  is  neat.  If  they 
have  been  badly  trained  the  contrary  may  be  ex- 
pected. The  same  may  be  said  of  the  cooking.  The 
landlord  and  his  guest  are  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
cook,  and  the  food  is  prepared  according  to  his  ability 
and  education.  You  get  very  little  beef  because  cows 
are  sacred  and  steers  are  too  valuable  to  kill.  The  mut- 
ton is  excellent,  and  there  is  plenty  of  it.  You  cannot  get 
better  anywhere,  and  at  places  near  the  sea  they  serve 
an  abundance  of  fish.  Vegetables  are  plenty  and  are  us- 
ually well  cooked.  The  coffee  is  poor  and  almost  every- 
body drinks  tea.  You  seldom  sit  down  to  a  hotel  table  in 
India  without  finding  chickens  cooked  in  a  palatable  way 
for  breakfast,  lunch  and  dinner,  and  eggs  are  equally 
good  and  plenty.  The  bread  is  usually  bad,  and  every- 
body calls  for  toast.    The  deserts  are  usually  quite  good. 

It  takes  a  stranger  some  time  to  become  accustomed 
to  barefooted  servants,  but  few  of  the  natives  in  India 
of  whatever  class  wear  shoes.  Rich  people,  business  men, 
merchants,  bankers  and  others  who  come  in  contact  on 
equal  terms  with  the  foreign  population  usually  wear 
them  in  the  streets,  but  kick  them  off  and  go  around  bare- 
footed as  soon  as  they  reach  their  own  offices  or  their 
homes.  Although  a  servant  may  be  dressed  in  elaborate 
livery,  he  never  wears  shoes.  The  butlers,  footmen,  ush- 
ers and  other  servants  at  the  government  house  in  Cal- 
cutta, at  the  viceregal  lodge  at  Simla,  at  the  palace  of  the 
governor  of  Bombay,  and  the  residences  of  the  other  high 
officials,  are  all  barefooted. 

Everybody  with  experience  agrees  that  well-trained 
Hindu  servants  are  quick,  attentive  and  respectful  and  in- 


50  MODERN  INDIA 

genious.  F.  Marion  Crawford  in  "Mr.  Isaacs"  says:  "It 
has  always  been  a  mystery  to  me  how  native  servants 
manage  ahvays  to  turn  up  at  the  right  moment.  You 
say  to  your  man,  'Go  there  and  wait  for  me/  and  you 
arrive  and  find  him  waiting;  though  how  he  transferred 
himself  thither,  with  his  queer-looking  bundle,  and  his 
lota  and  cooking  utensils  and  your  best  teapot  wrapped 
up  in  a  newspaper  and  ready  for  use,  and  with  all  the 
hundred  and  one  things  that  a  native  servant  contrives 
to  carry  about  w'ithout  breaking  or  losing  one  of  them, 
is  an  unsolved  puzzle.  Yet  there  he  is,  clean  and  grin- 
ning as  ever,  and  if  he  were  not  clean  and  grinning 
and  provided  with  tea  and  cheroots,  you  would  not 
keep  him  in  your  service  a  day,  though  you  would  be  in- 
capable of  looking  half  so  spotless  and  pleased  under  the 
same  circumstances  yourself." 

Every  upper  servant  in  an  Indian  household  has  to 
have  an  under  servant  to  assist  him.  A  butler  will  not 
wash  dishes  or  dust  or  sweep.  He  will  go  to  market  and 
wait  on  the  table,  but  nothing  more.  A  cook  must  have 
a  coolie  to  wash  the  kitchen  utensils,  and  wait  on  him. 
He  will  do  nothing  but  prepare  the  food  for  the  table. 
A  coachman  will  do  nothing  but  drive.  He  must  have 
a  coolie  to  take  care  of  the  horse,  and  if  there  are  two 
horses  the  owner  must  hire  another  stable  man,  for  no 
Hindu  hostler  can  take  care  of  more  than  one,  at  least  he 
is  not  willing  to  do  so.  An  American  friend  has  told  me 
of  his  experience  trying  to  break  down  one  of  the  customs 
of  the  East,  and  compelling  one  native  to  groom  two 
horses.  It  is  too  long  and  tearful  to  relate  here,  for  he 
was  finally  compelled  to  give  in  and  hire  a  man  for  every 
horse  and  prove  the  truth  of  Kipling's  poem : 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       51 

"It  is  not  good  for  the  Christian  race 
To  worry  the  Aryan  brown ; 

For  the  white  man  riles, 

And  the  brown  man  smiles, 
And  it  weareth  the  Christian 

And  the  end  of  the  fight 

Is  a  tombstone  white 
With  the  name  of  the  late  deceased. 

And  the  epitaph  clear: 

A  fool  lies  here, 
Who  tried  to  hustle  the  East." 

That's  the  fate  of  everybody  who  goes  up  against  es- 
tablished customs.    And  so  we  hired  a  "bearer." 

There  were  plenty  of  candidates.  They  appeared  in 
swarms  before  our  trunks  had  come  up  from  the  steamer, 
and  continued  to  come  by  ones  and  twos  until  we  had 
made  a  selection.  They  camped  outside  our  rooms  and 
watched  every  movement  we  made.  They  sprang  up  in 
our  way  from  behind  columns  and  gate-posts  whenever 
we  left  the  hotel  or  returned  to  it.  They  accosted  us  in 
the  street  with  insinuating  smiles  and  politely  opened  the 
carriage  door  as  we  returned  from  our  drives.  They 
were  of  all  sizes  and  ages,  castes  and  religions,  and, 
strange  to  say,  most  of  them  had  become  Christians  and 
Protestants  from  their  strong  desire  to  please.  Each  had 
a  bunch  of  "chits,"  as  they  call  them — recommendations 
from  previous  employers,  testifying  to  their  intelligence, 
honesty  and  fidelity,  and  insisted  upon  our  reading  them. 
Finally,  in  self-defense,  we  engaged  a  stalwart  Moham- 
medan wearing  a  snow-white  robe,  a  monstrous  turban 
and  a  big  bushy  beard.  He  is  an  imposing  spectacle ;  he 
moves  like  an  emperor ;  his  poses  are  as  dignified  as  those 


52  MODERN  INDIA 

of  the  Sheik  el  Islam  when  he  lifts  his  hands  to  bestow 
a  blessing.  And  we  engaged  Ram  Zon  Abdullet  Miit- 
mammet  on  his  shape. 

It  was  a  mistake.  Beauty  is  skin  deep.  No  one  can 
judge  merit  by  outside  appearances,  as  many  persons  can 
ascertain  by  glancing  in  a  mirror.  Ram  Zon,  and  that 
was  what  we  called  him  for  short,  was  a  splendid  illusion. 
It  turned  out  that  he  could  not  scrape  together  enough 
English  to  keep  an  account  of  his  expenditures  and  had 
to  trust  to  his  memory,  which  is  very  defective  in  money 
matters.  He  cannot  read  or  write,  he  cannot  carry  a  mes- 
sage or  receive  one ;  he  is  no  use  as  a  guide,  for,  although 
information  and  ideas  may  be  bulging  from  his  noble 
brow,  he  lacks  the  power  to  communicate  them,  and, 
worse  than  all,  he  is  surly,  lazy  and  a  constitutional 
kicker.  He  was  always  hanging  around  when  we  didn't 
want  him,  and  when  we  did  want  him  he  was  never  to  be 
found. 

Ram  had  not  been  engaged  two  hours  before  he  ap- 
peared in  our  sitting  room,  enveloped  in  a  dignity  that 
permeated  the  entire  hotel,  stood  erect  like  a  soldier, 
brought  his  hand  to  his  forehead  and  held  it  there  for  a 
long  time — the  salute  of  great  respect — and  gave  me  a 
sealed  note,  which  I  opened  and  found  to  read  as  follows : 

"Most  Honored  Sir : — I  most  humbly  beg  to  inform 
you  this  to  your  kind  consideration  and  generousitee  and 
trusting  which  will  submit  myself  to  your  grant  benevo- 
lence for  avoid  the  troublesomeness  to  you  and  your  fam- 
ilies, that  the  servant  Ram  Zon  you  have  been  so  honor- 
able and  benovelent  to  engage  is  a  great  rogue  and  con- 
jurer. He  will  make  your  mind  buzzling  and  will 
steal  your  properties,  and  can  run  away  with  you  mid- 
way.   In  proof  you  please  touch  his  right  hand  shoulder 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       53 

and  see  what  and  how  big  charm  he  has.  Such  a  bad 
temperature  man  you  have  in  your  service.  Besides  he 
only  grown  up  taller  and  looks  like  a  dandee  as  it  true 
but  he  is  not  fit  to  act  in  case  not  to  disappeared.  I  beg 
of  you  kindly  consult  about  those  matters  and  select  and 
choose  much  experienced  man  than  him  otherwise  cer- 
tainly you  could  be  put  in  to  great  danger  by  his  conjur- 
ing and  into  troubles. 

"Hoping  to  excuse  me  for  this  troubles  I  taking, 
though  he  is  my  caste  and  countryman  much  like  not  to 
do  so,  but  his  temperature  is  not  good  therefore  liable  to 
your  honourablesness,  etc.,  etc." 

When  I  told  Ram  about  this  indictment,  he  stoutly  de- 
nied the  charges,  saying  that  it  was  customary  for 
envious  "bearers"  to  say  bad  things  of  one  another  when 
they  lost  good  jobs.  We  did  not  feel  of  his  right  arm  and 
he  did  not  try  to  conjure  us,  but  his  temperature  is  cer- 
tainly very  bad,  and  he  soon  became  a  nuisance,  which  we 
abated  by  paying  him  a  month's  wages  and  sending  him 
off.  Then,  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  consul  we 
got  a  treasure,  although  he  does  not  show  it  in  his  looks. 

The  hotels  of  India  have  a  very  bad  name.  There  are 
several  good  ones  in  the  empire,  however,  and  every  ex- 
perienced traveler  and  every  clubman  you  meet  can  tell 
you  the  names  of  all  of  them.  Hence  it  is  not  impossible 
to  keep  a  good  hotel  in  India  with  profit.  The  best  are  at 
Lucknow  and  Darjeeling.  Those  at  Caucutta  are  the 
worst,  although  one  would  think  that  the  vice-regal  cap- 
ital would  have  pride  enough  to  entertain  its  many  visit- 
ors decently. 

Bombay  at  last  has  such  a  hotel  as  ought  to  be  found 
in  Calcutta  and  all  the  other  large  cities,  an  architectural 
monument,  and  an  ornament  to  the  country.    It  is  due  to 


54  MODERN   INDIA 

the  enterprise  of  the  late  Mr.  J.  N.  Tata,  a  Parsec  mer- 
chant and  manufacturer,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  its 
success  will  be  sufficient  to  stimulate  similar  enterprises 
elsewhere.  It  would  be  much  better  for  the  people  of  India 
to  coax  tourists  over  here  by  offering  them  comforts,  lux- 
uries and  pleasures  than  to  allow  the  few  who  do  come, 
to  go  away  grumbling.  The  thousands  who  visit  Cairo 
every  winter  are  attracted  there  by  the  hotels,  for  no  city 
has  better  ones,  and  no  hotels  give  more  for  the  money. 
Hence  they  pay  big  profits,  and  are  a  source  of  prosper- 
ity to  the  city,  as  well  as  a  pleasure  to  the  idle  public. 

The  most  interesting  study  in  Bombay  is  the  people, 
but  there  are  several  excursions  into  the  country  around 
well  worth  making,  particularly  those  that  take  you  to 
the  cave  temples  of  the  Hindus,  which  have  been  exca- 
vated with  infinite  labor  and  pains  out  of  the  solid  rock. 
With  their  primitive  tools  the  people  of  ancient  times 
chiseled  great  caverns  in  the  sides  of  rocky  cliffs  and  hills 
and  fashioned  them  after  the  conventional  designs  of 
temples,  with  columns,  pillars,  vaulted  ceilings,  platforms 
for  their  idols  and  pulpits  for  their  priests.  The  nearest 
of  these  wonderful  examples  of  stone  cutting  is  on  an 
island  in  the  harbor  of  Bombay,  called  Elephanta,  because 
at  one  time  a  colossal  stone  elephant  stood  on  the  slope 
near  the  landing  place,  but  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Portu- 
guese several  centuries  ago.  The  island  rises  about  600 
feet  above  the  water,  its  summit  is  crowned  with  a  glori- 
ous growth  of  forest,  its  sides  are  covered  with  dense 
jungles,  and  the  beach  is  skirted  by  mangrove  swamps. 
You  get  there  by  a  steam  launch  provided  by  the  mana- 
gers of  your  hotel,  or  by  Cook  &  Sons,  the  tourist  agents, 
whenever  a  sufficiently  large  party  is  willing  to  pay  them 
for  their  trouble.    Or  if  you  prefer  a  sail  you  can  hire  one 


I  SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       55 

of  the  native  boats  with  a  pecuhar  rigging  and  usually 
get  a  good  breeze  in  the  morning,  although  it  is  apt  to  die 
down  in  the  afternoon,  and  you  have  to  take  your  chances 
of  staying  out  all  night.  The  only  landing  place  at  Ele- 
phanta  Island  is  a  wall  of  concrete  which  has  been  built 
out  across  the  beach  into  four  or  five  feet  of  water,  and 
you  have  to  step  gingerly  lest  you  slip  on  the  slime.  At 
the  end  of  the  wall  a  solid  stairway  cut  in  the  hillside 
leads  up  to  the  temple.  It  was  formerly  used  daily  by 
thousands  of  worshipers,  but  in  this  degenerate  age  no- 
body but  tourists  ever  climb  it.  Every  boat  load  that 
lands  is  greeted  by  a  group  of  bright-eyed  children,  who 
follow  the  sahibs  (gentlemen)  and  mem-sahibs  (ladies) 
up  the  stairs,  begging  for  backsheesh  and  offering  for 
sale  curios  beetles  and  other  insects  of  brilliant  hues  that 
abound  on  the  island.  Coolies  are  waiting  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs  with  chairs  fastened  to  poles,  in  which  they  will 
carry  a  person  up  the  steep  stairway  to  the  temple  for  10 
cents.  Reaching  the  top  you  find  a  solid  fence  with  a 
gateway,  which  is  opened  by  a  retired  army  officer  who 
has  been  appointed  custodian  of  the  place  and  collects 
small  fees,  which  are  devoted  to  keeping  the  temples 
clean  and  in  repair. 

The  island  is  dedicated  to  Siva,  the  demon  god  of  the 
Hindus,  and  it  is  therefore  appropriate  that  its  swamps 
and  jungles  should  abound  with  poisonous  reptiles  and 
insects.  The  largest  of  the  several  temples  is  130  feet 
square  and  from  32  to  58  feet  high,  an  artificial  cave  chis- 
eled out  of  the  granite  mountain  side.  The  roof  is  sus- 
tained by  sixteen  pilasters  and  twenty-six  massive  fluted 
pillars.  In  a  recess  in  the  center  is  a  gigantic  figure  of 
Siva  in  his  character  as  The  Destroyer.  His  face  is 
turned  to  the  east  and  wears  a  stern,  commanding  expres- 


56  MODERN  INDIA 

sion.  His  head-dress  is  elaborate  and  crowned  by  a  tiara 
beautifully  carved.  In  one  hand  he  holds  a  citron  and  in 
the  other  the  head  of  a  cobra,  which  is  twisted  around 
his  arm  and  is  reaching  towards  his  face.  His  neck  is 
adorned  with  strings  of  pearls,  from  which  hangs  a  pen- 
dant in  the  form  of  a  heart.  Another  necklace  supports  a 
human  skull,  the  peculiar  symbol  of  Siva,  with  twisted 
snakes  growing  from  the  head  instead  of  hair.  This  is 
the  great  image  of  the  temple  and  represents  the  most 
cruel  and  revengeful  of  all  the  Hindu  gods.  Ten  centu- 
ries ago  he  wore  altogether  a  different  character,  but 
human  sacrifices  have  always  been  made  to  propitiate 
him.  Around  the  walls  of  the  cave  are  other  gods  of 
smaller  stature  representing  several  of  the  most  prom- 
inent and  powerful  of  the  Hindu  pantheon,  all  of  them 
chiseled  from  the  solid  granite.  There  are  several  cham- 
bers or  chapels  also  for  different  forms  of  worship,  and  a 
well  which  receives  its  water  from  some  mysterious 
source,  and  is  said  to  be  very  deep. 

The  Portuguese  did  great  damage  here  several  centu- 
ries ago  in  a  war  with  India,  for  they  fired  several  cannon 
balls  straight  into  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  which  carried 
away  several  of  the  columns  and  destroyed  the  ornamen- 
tation of  others,  but  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  has  taken 
the  trouble  to  make  careful  and  accurate  repairs. 

Although  the  caves  at  Elephanta  are  wonderful,  they 
are  greatly  inferior  in  size  and  beauty  to  a  larger  group 
at  Ellora,  a  day's  journey  by  train  from  Bombay,  and 
after  that  a  carriage  or  horseback  ride  of  two  hours. 
There  are  lOO  cave  temples,  carved  out  of  the  solid  rock 
between  the  second  and  the  tenth  centuries.  They  are 
scattered  along  the  base  of  a  range  of  beautifully  wooded 
hills  about  500  feet  above  the  plain,  and  the  amount  of 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       57 

labor  and  patience  expended  in  their  construction  is  ap- 
palling, especially  when  one  considers  that  the  men  who 
made  them  were  without  the  appliances  and  tools  of  mod- 
ern times,  knew  nothing  of  explosives  and  were  depend- 
ent solely  upon  chisels  of  flint  and  other  stones.  The 
greatest  and  finest  of  them  is  as  perfect  in  its  details  and 
as  elaborate  in  its  ornamentations  as  the  cathedrals  at 
Milan  or  Toledo,  except  that  it  has  been  cut  out  of  a 
single  piece  of  stone  instead  of  being  built  up  of  many 
small  pieces. 

The  architect  made  his  plans  with  the  most  prodigal 
detail  and  executed  them  with  the  greatest  perfection. 
He  took  a  solid  rock,  an  absolute  monolith,  and  chiseled 
out  of  it  a  cathedral  365  feet  long,  192  feet  wide  and  96 
feet  high,  with  four  rows  of  mighty  columns  sustaining 
a  vaulted  roof  that  is  covered  with  pictures  in  relief  illus- 
trating the  power  and  the  adventures  and  the  achieve- 
ments of  his  gods.  It  would  accommodate  5,000  wor- 
shippers. Around  the  walls  he  left  rough  projections, 
which  were  afterward  carved  into  symbolical  figures  and 
images,  eight,  ten  and  twelve  feet  high,  of  elephants 
lions,  tigers,  oxen,  rams,  swans  and  eagles,  larger  than 
life.  Corner  niches  and  recesses  have  been  enriched 
with  the  most  intricate  ornamentation,  and  in  them,  still 
of  the  same  rock,  without  the  introduction  of  an  atom  of 
outside  material,  the  sculptors  chiseled  the  figures  of  forty 
or  more  of  the  principal  Hindu  deities.  And  on  each  of 
the  four  sides  is  a  massive  altar  carved  out  of  the  side 
of  the  cliff  with  the  most  ornate  and  elaborate  traceries 
and  other  embellishment. 

Indeed,  my  pen  is  not  capable  of  describing  these  most 
wonderful  achievements  of  human  genius  and  patience. 
But  all  of  them  have  been  described  in  great  detail  and 


58  MODERN  INDIA 

with  copious  illustrations  in  books  that  refer  to  nothing: 
else.  I  can  only  say  that  they  are  the  most  wonderful  of 
all  the  human  monuments  in  India. 

"From  one  vast  mount  of  solid  stone 

A  mighty  temple  has  been  cored 

By  nut-brown  children  of  the  sun, 

When  stars  were  newly  bright,  and  blithe 

Of  song  along  the  rim  of  dawn — 

A  mighty  monolith." 

The  thirty  principal  temples  are  scattered  along  the 
rocky  mountain  side  within  a  distance  of  two  miles,  and 
seventy-nine  others  are  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
The  smallest  of  the  principal  group  is  90  feet  long,  40 
feet  wide,  with  a  roof  40  feet  high  sustained  by  thirty- 
four  columns.  They  are  all  alike  in  one  particular.  No 
mortar  was  used  in  their  construction  or  any  outside 
material.  Every  atom  of  the  walls  and  ceilings,  the  col- 
umns, the  altars  and  the  images  and  ornaments 
stands  exectly  where  the  Creator  placed  it  at  the  birth 
of  the  universe. 

There  are  several  groups  of  cave  temples  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  Some  of  them  were  made  by  the  Budd- 
hists, for  it  seems  to  have  been  fashionable  in  those  days 
to  chisel  places  of  worship  out  of  the  rocky  hillsides  in- 
stead of  erecting  them  in  the  open  air,  according  to  the  or- 
dinary rules  of  architecture.  There  are  not  less  than  300 
in  western  India  which  are  believed  to  have  been  made 
within  a  period  of  a  thousand  years.  Archaeologists  dis- 
pute over  their  ages,  just  as  they  disagree  about  every- 
thing else.  Some  claim  that  the  first  of  the  cave  temples 
antedates  the  Christian  era  :  others  declare  that  the  oldest 
was    not  begun  for  300  years  after  Christ,  but  to  the  or- 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       59 

dinary  citizen  these  are  questions  of  little  significance.  It 
is  not  so  important  for  us  to  know  when  this  great  work 
was  done,  but  it  would  be  extremely  gratifying  if  some- 
body could  tell  us  who  did  it — what  genius  first  conceived 
the  idea  of  carving  a  magnificent  house  of  worship  out  of 
the  heart  of  a  mountain,  and  what  means  he  used  to  ac- 
complish the  amazing  results. 

We  would  like  to  know  for  example,  who  made  the  de-. 
signs  of  the  Vishwa  Karma,  or  carpenter's  cave,  one  of 
the  most  exquisite  in  India,  a  single  excavation  85  by  45 
feet  in  area  and  35  feet  high,  which  has  an  arched  roof 
similar  to  the  Gothic  chapels  of  England  and  a  balcony  or 
gallery  over  a  richly  sculptured  gateway  very  similar  to 
the  organ  loft  of  a  modern  church.  At  the  upper  end,  sit- 
ting cross-legged  in  a  niche,  is  a  figure  four  feet  high, 
with  a  serene  and  contemplative  expression  upon  its  face. 
Because  it  has  none  of  the  usual  signs  and  symbols  and 
ornaments  that  appertain  to  the  different  gods,  archaeol- 
ogists have  pronounced  it  a  figure  of  the  founder  of  the 
temple,  who,  according  to  a  popular  legend,  carved  it  all 
with  his  own  hands,  but  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  for 
whom  the  statue  was  intended,  and  the  various  stories 
told  of  it  are  pure  conjectures  that  only  exasperate 
one  who  studies  the  details.  Each  stroke  of  the  chisel  up- 
on the  surface  of  the  interior  was  as  delicate  and  exact 
as  if  a  jewel  instead  of  a  granite  mountain  was  being 
carved. 

There  are  temples  to  all  of  the  great  gods  in  the  Hin- 
du catalogue ;  there  are  several  in  honor  of  Buddha,  and 
others  for  Jain,  all  more  or  less  of  the  same  design  and 
the  same  style  of  execution.  Those  who  care  to  know 
more  about  them  can  find  full  descriptions  in  Fergusson's 
"Indian  Architecture." 


6o  MODERN  INDIA 

South  of  Bombay,  on  the  coast,  is  the  Uttlc  Portuguese 
colony  of  Goa,  the  oldest  European  settlement  in  India. 
You  will  be  surprised  to  know  that  there  are  four  or  five 
of  these  colonies  belonging  to  other  European  govern- 
ments within  the  limits  of  British  India,  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  the  viceroy  and  the  authority  of  Edward  VII. 
The  French  have  two  towns  of  limited  area  in  Bengal, 
one  of  them  only  an  hour's  ride  from  Calcutta.  They  are 
entirely  outside  of  the  British  jurisdiction  and  under  the 
authority  of  the  French  Republic,  which  has  always  been 
respected.  The  Dutch  have  two  colonies  in  India  also, 
and  Goa,  the  most  important  of  all,  is  subject  to  Por- 
tugal. The  territory  is  sixty-two  miles  long  by  forty 
miles  wide,  and  has  a  population  of  446,982.  The  inhab- 
itants are  nearly  all  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  archbishop 
of  Goa  is  primate  of  the  East,  having  jurisdiction  over  all 
Roman  Catholics  between  Cairo  and  Hong-Kong. 

More  than  half  of  the  population  are  converted  Hin- 
dus, descendants  of  the  original  occupants  of  the  place, 
who  were  overcome  by  the  Duke  of  Albuquerque  in 
1 5 10,  and  after  seventy  or  eighty  years  of  fighting  were 
converted  by  the  celebrated  and  saintly  Jesuit  missionary, 
St.  Francis  Xavier.  He  lived  and  preached  and  died 
in  Goa,  and  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  the  Good  Jesus, 
which  was  erected  by  him  during  the  golden  age  of  Por- 
tugal— for  at  one  time  that  little  kingdom  exercised  a 
military,  political,  ecclesiastical  and  commercial  influence 
throughout  the  world  quite  as  great,  comparatively 
speaking,  as  that  of  Great  Britain  to-day.  Goa  was  then 
the  most  important  city  in  the  East,  for  its  wealth  and 
commerce  rivaled  that  of  Genoa  or  Venice.  It  was  as 
large  as  Paris  or  London,  and  the  viceroy  lived  in  a  pal- 
ace as  fine  as  that  occupied  by  the  king.     But  very  little 


SERVANTS,  HOTELS  AND  TEMPLES       6i 

evidence  of  its  former  magnificence  remains.  Its  gran- 
deur was  soon  exhausted  when  the  Dutch  and  the  East 
India  Company  came  into  competition  with  the  Portu- 
guese. The  Latin  race  has  never  been  tenacious  either  in 
poHtics  or  commerce.  Like  the  Spaniards,  the  Portu- 
guese have  no  staying  power,  and  after  a  struggle  lasting 
seventy  years,  all  of  the  wide  Portuguese  possessions  in 
the  East  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch  and  the  British, 
and  nothing  is  now  left  but  Goa,  with  its  ruins  and  re- 
miniscences and  the  beautiful  shrine  of  marble  and  jas- 
per, which  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  erected  in  honor 
of  the  first  great  missionary  to  the  East. 


IV 


THE    EMPIRE   OF    INDIA 


India  is  a  great  triangle,  1,900  miles  across  its  great- 
est length  and  an  equal  distance  across  its  greatest 
breadth.  It  extends  from  a  region  of  perpetual  snow  in 
the  Himalayas,  almost  to  the  equator.  The  superficial 
area  is  1,766,642  square  miles,  and  you  can  understand 
better  what  that  means  when  I  tell  you  that  the  United 
States  has  an  area  of  2,970,230  square  miles,  without 
counting  Alaska  or  Hawaii.  India  is  about  as  large  as 
that  portion  of  the  United  States  lying  east  of  a  line 
drawn  southward  along  the  western  boundary  of  the  Da- 
kotas,  Kansas  and  Texas. 

The  population  of  India  in  1901  was  294,361,056  or 
about  one-fifth  of  the  human  race,  and  it  comprises  more 
than  100  distinct  nations  and  peoples  in  every  grade  of 
civilization  from  absolute  savages  to  the  most  complete 
and  complex  commercial  and  social  organizations.  It  has 
every  variety  of  climate  from  the  tropical  humidity  along 
the  southern  coast  to  the  frigid  cold  of  the  moun- 
tains ;  peaks  of  ice,  reefs  of  coral,  impenetrable  jungles 
and  bleak,  treeless  plains.  One  portion  of  its  territory  re- 
cords the  greatest  rainfall  of  any  spot  on  earth ;  another, 
of  several  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  is  seldom  wa- 
tered with  a  drop  of  rain  and  is  entirely  dependent  for 
moisture  upon  the  melting  snows  of  the  mountains. 
Twelve  thousands  different  kinds  of  animals  are  enu- 

62 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  63 

merated  in  its  fauna,  28,000  plants  in  its  flora,  and  the  stat- 
tistical  survey  prepared  by  the  government  fills  128  vol- 
umes of  the  size  of  our  census  reports.  One  hundred  and 
eighteen  distinct  languages  are  spoken  in  various  parts 
of  India  and  fifty-nine  of  these  languages  are  spoken  by 
more  than  100,000  people  each.  A  large  number  of  other 
languages  and  dialects  are  spoken  by  different  tribes  and 
clans  of  less  than  100,000  population.  The  British  Bible 
Society  has  published  the  whole  or  parts  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  forty-two  languages  which  reach  220,- 
000,000  people,  but  leave  74,000,000  without  the  Holy 
Word.  In  order  to  give  the  Bible  to  the  remainder  of  the 
population  of  India  it  would  be  necessary  to  publish  108 
additional  translations,  which  the  society  has  no  money 
and  no  men  to  prepare.  From  this  little  statement  some 
conception  of  the  variety  of  the  people  of  India  may  be 
obtained,  because  each  of  the  tribes  and  clans  has  its  own 
distinct  organization  and  individuality,  and  each  is  prac- 
tically a  separate  nation. 

Language.  Spoken  by    Language.  Spoken  by 

Hindi 85,675,373  Malayalam    5,428,250 

BengaH 41,343,762  Masalmani    3,669,390 

Telugu     19,885,137  Sindhi    2,592,341 

Marathi   18,892,875  Santhal    1,709,680 

Punjabi    17,724,610  Western  Pahari  .1,523,098 

Tamil 15,229,759  Assamese    1,435,820 

Gujarathi    10,619,789  Gond    i,379,58o 

Kanarese   9,751,885  Central  Pahari  ..1,153,384 

Uriya     9,010,957  Marwadi    1,147,480 

Burmese    5,926,864  Pashtu    1,080,931 

The  Province  of  Bengal,   for  example,  is  nearly  as 
large  as  all  our  North  Atlantic  states  combined,  and  con- 


64  MODERN  INDIA 

tains  an  area  of  122,548  square  miles.  The  Province  of 
Rajputana  is  even  larger,  and  has  a  population  of  74,- 
744,886,  almost  as  great  as  that  of  the  entire  United 
States.  IMadras  has  a  population  of  38,000,000,  and  the 
central  provinces  47,000,000,  while  several  of  the  160  dif- 
ferent states  into  which  India  is  divided  have  more  than 
10,000,000  each. 

The  population  is  divided  according  to  religions  as 
follows : 

Hindus    207,146,422  Sikhs   2,195,268 

Alohammedans.  62,458,061  Jains    1,334,148 

Buddhists    9,476,750  Parsees    94,190 

Animistic 8,711,360  Jews  18,228 

Christians    ....     2,923,241 

It  will  be  interesting  to  know  that  of  the  Christians 
enumerated  at  the  last  census  1,202,039  were  Roman 
Catholics,  453,612  belonged  to  the  established  Church  of 
England,  322,586  were  orthodox  Greeks,  220,863  were 
Baptists,  155,455  Lutherans,  53,829  Presbyterians  and 
157,847  put  themselves  down  as  Protestants  with- 
out giving  the  sect  to  which  they  adhere. 

The  foreign  population  of  India  is  very  small.  The 
British-born  number  only  96,653 ;  104,583  were  born  on 
the  continent  of  Europe,  and  only  641,854  out  of  nearly 
300,000,000  were  born  outside  the  boundaries  of  India. 

India  consists  of  four  separate  and  well-defined  regions : 
the  jungles  of  the  coast  and  the  vast  tract  of  country 
know'n  as  the  Deccan,  which  make  up  the  southern  half  of 
the  Empire ;  the  great  plain  which  stretches  southward 
from  the  Himalayas  and  constitutes  what  was  formerly 
known  as  Hindustan ;  and  a  three-sided  tableland  which 
lies  between,  in  the  center  of  the  empire,  and  is  drained 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  65 

by  a  thousand  rivers,  which  carry  the  water  off  as  fast  as 
it  falls  and  leave  but  little  to  refresh  the  earth.  This  is 
the  scene  of  periodical  famine,  but  the  government  is 
pushing  the  irrigation  system  so  rapidly  that  before  many 
years  the  danger  from  that  source  will  be  much  dimin- 
ished. 

The  whole  of  southern  India,  according  to  the  geolo- 
gists, was  once  covered  by  a  great  forest,  and  indeed 
there  are  still  66,305,506  acres  in  trees  which  are  care- 
fully protected.  The  black  soil  of  that  region  is  proverbial 
for  its  fertility  and  produces  cotton,  sugar  cane,  rice  and 
other  tropical  and  semi-tropical  plants  with  an  abundance 
surpassed  by  no  other  region.  The  fruit-bearing  palms 
require  a  chapter  to  themselves  in  the  botanies,  and  are  a 
source  of  surprising  wealth.  According  to  the  latest 
census  the  enormous  area  of  546,224,964  acres  is  under 
cultivation,  which  is  an  average  of  nearly  two  acres  per 
capita  of  population,  and  probably  two-thirds  of  it  is  ac- 
tually cropped.  About  one-fourth  of  this  area  is  under 
irrigation  and  more  than  22,000,000  acres  produce  two 
crops  a  year. 

Most  of  the  population  is  scattered  in  villages,  and  the 
number  of  people  who  are  not  supported  by  farms  is 
much  smaller  than  would  be  supposed  from  the  figures 
of  the  census.  A  large  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  re- 
turned as  engaged  in  trade  and  other  employments  really 
belong  to  the  agricultural  community,  because  they  are 
the  agents  of  middlemen  through  whose  hands  the  pro- 
duce of  the  farms  passes.  These  people  live  in  villages 
among  the  farming  community.  In  all  the  Empire  there 
are  only  eight  towns  with  more  than  200,000  inhabitants ; 
only  three  with  more  than  500,000,  and  only  one  with  a 
million,    which  is  Calcutta.     The  other  seven  in  order  of 


66  MODERN  INDIA 

size  are  Bombay,  Madras,  Hyderabad,  Lncknow,  Ran- 
goon, Benares  and  Delhi.  There  are  only  twenty-nine 
towns  with  more  than  1 00,000  inhabitants;  forty-nine  with 
more  than  50,000;  471  with  more  than  10,000;  877  with 
more  than  5,000,  and  2,134  organized  municipalities  with 
a  population  of  1,000  or  more.  These  municipalities  rep- 
resent an  aggregate  population  of  29,244,221  out  of  a  to- 
tal of  294,361,056,  leaving  265,134,722  inhabitants  scat- 
tered upon  farms  and  in  729,752  villages.  The  city  popu- 
lation, however,  is  growing  more  rapidly  than  that  of  the 
country,  because  of  the  efforts  of  the  government  to  di- 
vert labor  from  the  farms  to  the  factories.  In  Germany, 
France,  England  and  other  countries  of  Europe  and  in 
the  United  States  the  reverse  policy  is  pursued. 
Their  rural  population  is  drifting  too  rapidly  to  the 
cities,  and  the  cities  are  growing  faster  than  is  con- 
sidered healthful.  In  India,  during  the  ten  years  from 
1891  to  1901  the  city  population  has  increased  only  2,- 
452,083,  while  the  rural  population  has  increased  only 
4,567,032. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  people  sup- 
ported by  each  of  the  principal  occupations  named : 

Agriculture 191,691,731 

Earth  work  and  general  labor  (not  agricul- 
ture)        17,953,261 

Producing  food,  drink  and  stimulants 16,758,726 

Producing  textile  fabrics 11,214,158 

Personal,  household  and  sanitary 10,717,500 

Rent  payers  (tenants) 106,873,575 

Rent  receivers   (landlords) 45,810,673 

Field  laborers  29,325,985 

General  laborers    16,941,026 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  6y 

Cotton   weavers    5,460,515 

Farm  servants    4,196,697 

Beggars    (non-religious)    4,222,241 

Priests  and  others  engaged  in  religion 2,728,812 

Workers  and  dealers  in  wood,  bamboo,  etc..  2,499,531 

Barbers  and  shampooers   2,331,598 

Grain  and  pulse  dealers 2,264,481 

Herdsmen  (cattle,  sheep  and  goats) 2,215,791 

Indoor  servants    2,078,018 

Washermen 2,01 1,624 

Workers   and   dealers   in   earthen   and   stone 

ware    2,125,225 

Shoe,  boot  and  sandal  makers 1,957,291 

Shopkeepers    1,839,958 

Workers  and  dealers  in  gold  and  silver 1,768,597 

Cart  and  pack  animal  owners 1,605,529 

Iron  and  steel  workers 1,475,883 

Watchmen  and  other  village  servants 1,605,118 

Grocery  dealers   ♦ 1,587,225 

Sweepers  and  scavengers 1,518,482 

Fishermen  and  fish  curers 1,280,358 

Fish  dealers    1,269,435 

Workers  in  cane  and  matting 1,290,961 

Bankers,  money  lenders,  etc 1,200,998 

Tailors,  milliners  and  dressmakers 1,142,153 

Officers  of  the  civil  service 1,043,872 

Water  carriers   1,089,574 

Oil   pressers    1,055,933 

Dairy  men,  milk  and  butter  dealers 1,013,000 

The  enormous  number  of  1,563,000,  which  is  equal  to 
the  population  of  half  our  states,  are  engaged  in  what 

the  census  terms  "disreputable"  occupations.  There  are 


68  MODERN  INDIA 

about  eighty  other  classes,  but  none  of  them  embraces 
more  than  a  milHon  members. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  the  census  we  find  that  603,741 
people  are  engaged  in  making  and  selling  sweetmeats, 
and  550,241  in  selling  cardamon  seeds  and  betel  leaves, 
and  548,829  in  manufacturing  and  selling  bangles,  neck- 
laces, beads  and  sacred  threads.  There  are  497,509 
teachers  and  professors,  562,055  actors,  singers  and  danc- 
ers, 520,044  doctors  and  279,646  lawyers. 

The  chewing  of  betel  leaves  is  one  of  the  peculiar  cus- 
toms of  the  country,  even  more  common  than  tobacco 
chewing  ever  was  with  us.  At  almost  every  street  corner, 
in  the  porticos  of  the  temples,  at  the  railway  stations  and 
in  the  parks,  you  will  see  women  and  men,  squatting  on 
the  ground  behind  little  trays  covered  with  green  leaves, 
powdered  nuts  and  a  white  paste,  made  of  the  ashes  of 
cocoanut  fiber,  the  skins  of  potatoes  and  a  little  lime. 
They  take  a  leaf,  smear  it  with  the  lime  paste,  which  is 
intended  to  increase  the  saliva,  and  then  wrap  it  around 
the  powder  of  the  betel  nut.  Natives  stop  at  these  stands, 
drop  a  copper,  pick  up  one  of  these  folded  leaves,  put  it 
in  their  mouths,  and  go  ofif  chewing,  and  spitting  out 
saliva  as  red  as  blood.  Strangers  are  frequently  at- 
tracted by  dark  red  stains  upon  pavements  and  floors 
which  look  as  if  somebody  had  suffered  from  a  hemor- 
rhage or  had  opened  an  artery,  but  they  are  only  traces 
of  the  chewers  of  the  betel  nut.  The  habit  is  no  more 
harmful  than  chewing  tobacco.  The  influence  of  the 
juice  is  slightly  stimulating  to  the  nerves,  but  not  inju- 
rious, although  it  is  filthy  and  unclean. 

It  is  a  popular  impression  that  the  poor  of  India  live 
almost  exclusively  upon  rice,  which  is  very  cheap  and 
nourishing,  hence  it  is  possible  for  a  family  to  subsist 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  69 

upon  a  few  cents  a  day.  This  is  one  of  the  many  delu- 
sions that  are  destroyed  when  you  visit  the  country.  Rice 
in  India  is  a  luxury  that  can  be  afiforded  only  by  the  peo- 
ple of  good  incomes,  and  throughout  four-fifths  of  the 
country  is  sold  at  prices  beyond  the  reach  of  common 
working  people.  Sixty  per  cent,  of  the  population  live 
upon  wheat,  barley,  fruit,  various  kinds  of  pulses  and 
maize.  Rice  can  be  grown  only  in  hot  and  damp  cli- 
mates, where  there  are  ample  means  of  irrigation,  and 
only  where  the  conditions  of  soil,  climate  and  water  sup- 
ply allow  its  abundant  production  does  it  enter  into  the 
diet  of  the  working  classes.  Three-fourths  of  the  peo- 
ple are  vegetarians,  and  live  upon  what  they  produce 
themselves. 

The  density  of  the  population  is  very  great,  notwith- 
standing the  enormous  area  of  the  empire,  being  an 
average  of  167  to  the  square  mile,  including  mountains, 
deserts  and  jungles,  as  against  21.4  to  the  square  mile  in 
the  United  States.  Bengal,  the  province  of  which  Cal- 
cutta is  the  capital,  on  the  eastern  coast  of  India,  is  the 
most  densely  populated,  having  588  people  to  the  square 
mile.  Behar  in  the  south  has  548,  Oudh  in  the  north 
531 ;  Agra,  also  in  the  north,  419,  and  Bombay  202.  Some 
parts  of  India  have  a  larger  population  to  the  acre  than 
any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  peasants,  or  coolies,  as 
they  are  called,  are  born  and  live  and  die  like  animals. 
Indeed  animals  seldom  are  so  closely  herded  together,  or 
live  such  wretched  lives.  In  1900,  54,000,000  people  were 
more  or  less  afifected  by  the  famine,  and  5,607,000  were 
fed  by  the  government  for  several  months,  simply  because 
there  was  no  other  way  for  them  to  obtain  food.  There 
was  no  labor  they  could  perform  for  wages,  and  those 
who  were  fortunate  enough  to  secure  employment  could 


yo  MODERN  INDIA 

not  earn  enough  to  buy  bread  to  satisfy  the  hunger  of 
their  families.  It  is  estimated  that  30,000,000  human 
beings  starved  to  death  in  India  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  in  one  year  alone,  the  year  in  which  that 
good  woman.  Queen  Victoria,  assumed  the  title  of  em- 
press, more  than  5,000,000  of  her  subjects  died  from  hun- 
ger. Yet  the  population  without  immigration  is  continually 
increasing  from  natural  causes.  The  net  increase  during 
the  ten  years  from  1891  to  1901  was  7,046,385.  The 
struggle  for  life  is  becoming  greater  every  year;  wages 
are  going  down  instead  of  up,  notwithstanding  the  rapid 
increase  of  manufacturing  industries,  the  extension  of 
the  railway  system  and  other  sources  of  wealth  and  em- 
ployment that  are  being  rapidly  developed. 

More  than  200,000,000  persons  in  India  are  living  upon 
less  than  5  cents  a  day  of  our  money  ;  more  than  100,000,- 
000  are  living  upon  less  than  3  cents ;  more  than  50,000,- 
000  upon  less  than  i  cent  and  at  least  two-thirds  of  the 
entire  population  do  not  have  food  enough  during  any 
year  of  their  lives  to  supply  the  nourishment  demanded 
by  the  human  system.  As  I  have  already  shown,  there 
are  only  two  acres  of  land  under  cultivation  for  each 
inhabitant  of  India.  This  includes  gardens,  parks  and 
pastures,  and  it  is  not  evenly  distributed.  In  many  parts 
of  the  country,  millions  are  compelled  to  live  upon  an 
average  of  one-fourth  of  an  acre  of  land  and  millions 
more  upon  half  an  acre  each,  whereas  an  average  of  five 
acres  of  agricultural  land  per  capita  of  population  is  be- 
lieved to  be  necessary  to  the  prosperity  of  a  nation. 

Few  countries  have  such  an  enormous  birth  rate  and 
death  rate.  Nowhere  else  are  babies  born  in  such  enor- 
mous numbers,  and  nowhere  does  death  reap  such  awful 
harvests.     Sometimes  a  single  famine  or  plague  suddenly 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  71 

sweeps  millions  into  eternity,  and  their  absence  is  scarcely 
noticed.  Before  the  present  sanitary  regulations  and  in- 
spections were  introduced  the  death  rate  was  nearly 
double  what  it  is  now ;  indeed,  some  experts  estimate  that 
it  must  have  been  several  times  as  great,  but  no  records 
were  kept  in  some  of  the  provinces,  and  in  most  of  them, 
they  were  incomplete  and  inaccurate.  India  is  now  in  a 
healthier  condition  than  ever  before,  and  yet  the  death 
rate  varies  from  31.10  per  1,000  in  the  cold  provinces  of 
Agra  and  Oudh  to  82.7  per  1,000  in  the  tropical  regions 
of  Behar.  In  Bombay  last  year  the  rate  was  70.07  per 
1,000  ;  in  the  central  provinces  56.75  ;  in  the  Punjab,  which 
has  a  wide  area  in  northwestern  India,  it  was  47.7  and  in 
Bengal  36.63. 

The  birth  rate  is  almost  as  large,  the  following  table 
being  reported  from  the  principal  provinces  named : 

Births  per  Births  per 

1,000  pop.  1,000  2op. 

Behar    50.5  Burmah    37.4 

Punjab    48.4  Bombay    36.3 

Agra    48.9  Assam    35.4 

Central    provinces 47.3  Madras    31.3 

Bengal    42.9 

Even  with  the  continual  peril  from  plague  and  famine, 
the  government  does  not  encourage  emigration,  as  you 
think  would  be  considered  a  wise  policy,  but  retards  it  by 
all  sorts  of  regulations  and  restrictions,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  drive  the  Hindus  out  of  the  wretched  hovels  in  which 
they  live  and  thrive  and  breed  like  rats  or  rabbits.  The 
more  wretched  and  comfortless  a  home,  the  more  attached 
the  natives  are  to  it.  The  less  they  have  to  leave  the 
more  reluctant  they  are  to  leave  it,  but  the  same  rule 
applies  to  every  race  and  every  nation  in  the  south  of 


J2  MODERN  INDIA 

Europe  and  the  Turkish  Empire,  in  Syria,  Egypt,  the 
East  India  Islands,  and  wherever  the  population  is  dense 
and  wages  are  low.  It  is  the  semi-prosperous  middle 
class  who  emigrate  in  the  hope  of  bettering  their  con- 
dition. 

There  is  less  emigration  from  India  than  from  any 
other  country.  During  the  last  twenty  years  the  total 
number  of  persons  emigrating  from  the  Indian  Empire 
was  only  316,349,  less  than  come  to  the  United  States 
annually  from  Italy,  and  the  statistics  show  that  138,660 
of  these  persons  returned  to  their  former  homes  during 
that  period,  leaving  the  net  emigration  since  1882  only 
177,689  out  of  300,000,000  of  population.  And  most  of 
these  settled  in  other  British  colonies.  We  have  a  few 
Hindu  merchants  and  Parsees  in  the  United  States,  but 
no  coolies  whatever.  The  coolies  are  working  classes 
that  have  gone  to  British  Guiana,  Trinidad,  Jamaica  and 
other  West  Indies,  Natal,  East  Africa,  Fiji  and  other 
British  possessions  in  the  Pacific.  There  has  been 
a  considerable  flow  of  workmen  back  and  forth  be- 
tween India  and  Burma  and  Ceylon,  for  in  those  provinces 
labor  is  scarce,  wages  are  high  and  large  numbers  of 
Hindus  are  employed  in  the  rice  paddies  and  tea  plan- 
tations. 

The  government  prevents  irregular  emigration.  It 
has  a  "protectorate  of  emigrants"  who  is  intrusted  with 
the  enforcement  of  the  laws.  Natives  of  India  are  not 
permitted  to  leave  the  country  unless  they  are  certain 
of  obtaining  employment  at  the  place  where  they  desire 
to  go,  and  even  then  each  intending  emigrant  must  file 
a  copy  of  his  contract  with  the  commissioner  in  order 
that  he  may  be  looked  after  in-  his  new  home,  for  the 
Indian  government  always  sends  an  agent  to  protect  the 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  -ji 

interests  of  its  coolies  to  every  country  where  they  have 
gone  in  any  considerable  numbers.  Every  intending 
emigrant  must  submit  to  a  medical  examination  also,  for 
the  navigation  laws  prohibit  vessels  from  taking  aboard 
any  native  who  does  not  show  a  certificate  from  an  official 
that  he  is  in  full  possession  of  his  health  and  faculties  and 
physically  fit  to  earn  his  living  in  a  strange  country. 
Vessels  carrying  emigrants  are  subject  to  inspection,  and 
are  obliged  to  take  out  licenses,  which  require  them  to 
observe  certain  rules  regarding  space  occupied,  ventila- 
tion, sanitation  and  the  supply  of  food  and  water.  Most 
of  the  emigrants  leaving  India  go  out  under  contract  and 
the  terms  must  be  approved  by  the  agent  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  fact  that  the  government  and  the  benevolent  peo- 
ple of  Europe  and  America  have  twice  within  the  last  ten 
years  been  compelled  to  intervene  to  save  the  people  of 
India  from  perishing  of  starvation  has  created  an  im- 
pression that  they  are  always  in  the  lowest  depths  of 
distress  and  continually  suffering  from  any  privations. 
This  is  not  unnatural,  and  might  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances be  accepted  as  conclusive  proof  of  the  growing 
poverty  of  the  country  and  the  inability  of  the  people  to 
preserve  their  own  lives.  Such  a  conclusion,  however,  is 
very  far  from  the  fact,  and  every  visitor  to  India  from 
foreign  lands  has  a  surprise  awaiting  him  concerning  its 
condition  and  progress.  When  three-fifths  of  a  popula- 
tion of  300,000,000  have  all  their  eggs  in  one  basket  and 
depend  entirely  upon  little  spots  of  soil  for  sustenance, 
and  when  their  crops  are  entirely  dependent  upon  the 
rains,  and  when  for  a  succession  of  years  the  rains  are 
not  sufficient,  there  must  be  failures  of  harvest  and  a  vast 


74  MODERN  INDIA 

amount  of  suffering  is  inevitable.  But  the  recuperative 
power  of  the  empire  is  astonishing. 

Although  a  famine  may  extend  over  its  total  length  and 
breadth  one  season,  and  require  all  the  resources  of  the 
government  to  prevent  the  entire  population  from  perish- 
ing, a  normal  rainfall  will  restore  almost  immediate  pros- 
perity, because  the  soil  is  so  rich,  the  sun  is  so  hot,  and 
vegetation  is  so  rapid  that  sometimes  three  and  even  four 
crops  are  produced  from  the  same  soil  in  a  single  year. 
All  the  people  want  in  time  of  famine  is  sufficient  seed  to 
replant  their  farms  and  food  enough  to  last  them  until 
a  crop  is  ripe.  The  fact  that  a  famine  exists  in  one  part 
of  the  country,  it  must  also  be  considered,  is  no  evidence 
that  the  remainder  of  the  empire  is  not  abounding  in  pros- 
perity, and  every  table  of  statistics  dealing  w^ith  the  ma- 
terial conditions  of  the  country  shows  that  famine  and 
plague  have  in  no  manner  impeded  their  progress.  On 
the  other  hand  they  demonstrate  the  existence  of  an  in- 
creased power  of  endurance  and  rapid  recuperation,  which, 
compared  with  the  past,  affords  ground  for  hope  and  con- 
fidence of  an  even  more  rapid  advance  in  the  future. 

Comparing  the  material  condition  of  India  in  1904  with 
what  it  was  ten  years  previous,  we  find  that  the  area  of 
soil  under  cultivation  has  increased  229,000,000  acres. 
What  we  call  internal  revenue  has  increased  17  per  cent 
during  the  last  ten  years ;  sea  borne  foreign  commerce 
has  risen  in  value  from  £130,500,000  to  £163,750,000;  the 
coasting  trade  from  £48,500,000  to  £63,000,000,  and  the 
foreign  trade  by  land  from  £5,500,000  to  £9,000,000. 
Similar  signs  of  progress  and  prosperity  are  to  be  found 
in  the  development  of  organized  manufactures,  in  the  in- 
creased investment  of  capital  in  commerce  and  industry, 
in  dividends  paid  by  various  enterprises,  in  the  extended 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  75 

use  of  the  railways,  the  postoffice  and  the  telegraph.  The 
number  of  operatives  in  cotton  mills  has  increased  dur- 
ing the  last  ten  years  from  118,000  to  174,000,  in  jute 
mills  from  65,000  to  1 14,000,  in  coal  and  other  mines  from 
35,000  to  95,000,  and  in  miscellaneous  industries  from 
184,000  to  500,000.  The  railway  employes  have  increased 
in  number  from  284,000  to  357,000  in  ten  years. 

A  corresponding  development  and  improvement  is 
found  in  all  lines  of  investment.  During  the  ten  years 
from  1894  to  1904  the  number  of  joint  stock  companies 
having  more  than  $100,000  capital  has  increased  from 
950  to  1,366,  and  their  paid  up  capital  from  £17,750,000 
to  £24,500,000.  The  paid  in  capital  of  banks  has  ad- 
vanced from  £9,000,000  to  £14,750,000;  deposits  have  in- 
creased from  £7,500,000  to  £23,650,000,  and  the  deposits 
In  postal  savings  banks  from  £4,800,000  to  £7,200,000, 
which  is  an  encouraging  indication  of  the  growth  of  hab- 
its of  thrift.  The  passenger  traffic  on  the  railways  has 
increased  from  123,000,000  to  195,000,000,  and  the  freight 
from  20,000,000  to  34,000,000  tons.  The  number  of  let- 
ters and  parcels  passing  through  the  postoffice  has  in- 
creased during  the  ten  years  from  340,000,000  to  560,- 
000,000 ;  the  postal  money  orders  from  £9,000,000  to 
£19,000,000,  and  the  telegraph  messages  from  3,000,000 
to  5,000,000  in  number. 

The  income  tax  is  an  excellent  barometer  of  prosperity. 
It  exempts  ordinary  wage  earners  entirely — persons  with 
incomes  of  less  than  500  rupees,  a  rupee  being  worth 
about  33  cents  of  our  money.  The  whole  number  of  per- 
sons paying  the  income  tax  has  increased  from  354,594 
to  495,605,  which  is  about  40  per  cent  in  ten  years,  and 
the  average  tax  paid  has  increased  from  37.09  rupees  to 
48.68  rupees.     The  proceeds  of  the  tax  have  increased 


76  MODERN  INDIA 

steadily  from  year  to  year,  with  the  exception  of  the 
famine  years. 

There  are  four  classifications  of  taxpayers,  and  the 
proportion  paid  by  each  during  the  last  year,  1902,  was 
as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

Salaries  and   pensions 29.07 

Dividends  from  companies  and  business 7.22 

Interest  on   securities 4.63 

Miscellaneous  sources  of  income 59-o8 

The  last  item  is  very  significant.  It  shows  that  nearly 
60  per  cent  of  the  income  taxpayers  of  India  are  sup- 
ported by  miscellaneous  investments  other  than  securities 
and  joint  stock  companies.  The  item  includes  the  names 
of  merchants,  individual  manufacturers,  farmers,  me- 
chanics, professional  men  and  tradesmen  of  every  class. 

The  returns  of  the  postal  savings  banks  show  the  fol- 
lowing classes  of  depositors : 

Number. 

Wage  earners    v'552,349 

Professional  men  with  fixed  incomes 233,108 

Professional  men  with  variable  incomes 58,130 

Domestics,  or  house  servants 151,204 

Tradesmen    32,065 

Farmers    12,387 

Mechanics    27,450 

The  interest  allowed  by  the  savings  bank  government 
of  India  is  3^  per  cent. 

Considering  the  awful  misfortunes  and  distress  which 
the  country  has  endured  during  the  last  ten  years,  these 
facts  are  not  only  satisfactory  but  remarkable,  and  if  it 
can  progress  so  rapidly  during  times  of  plague  and  fam- 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  77 

iiie,  what  could  be  expected  from  it  during  a  cycle  of  sea- 
sons of  full  crops. 

During  the  ten  years  which  ended  with  1894  the  sea- 
sons were  all  favorable,  generally  speaking,  although 
local  failures  of  harvests  occurred  here  and  there  in  dis- 
tricts of  several  provinces,  but  they  were  not  sufficient  in 
area,  duration  or  intensity  to  affect  the  material  condi- 
tions of  the  people.  The  ten  succeeding  years,  how- 
ever, ending  with  1904  witnessed  a  succession  of  calami- 
ties that  were  unprecedented  either  in  India  or  anywhere 
else  on  earth,  with  the  exception  of  a  famine  that  oc- 
curred in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Those 
ten  years  not  only  saw  two  of  the  worst  famines,  but  re- 
peated visitations  of  widespread  and  fatal  epidemics.  It 
is  estimated  that  during  the  ten  years  ending  December, 
1903,  a  million  and  a  half  of  deaths  were  caused  by  the 
bubonic  plague  alone,  and  that  the  mortality  from  that 
pestilence  was  small  in  comparison  with  that  caused  by 
cholera,  fever  and  famine.  The  effects  of  those  epidemics 
had  been  to  hamper  trade,  to  alarm  and  demoralize  the 
people,  to  obstruct  foreign  commerce,  prevent  investments 
and  the  development  of  material  resources.  Yet  during 
the  years  1902  and  1903  throughout  all  India  there  was 
abundant  prosperity.  This  restoration  of  prosperity  is 
most  noticeable  in  several  of  the  districts  that  suffered 
most  severely  from  famine.  To  a  large  measure  the  agri- 
cultural population  have  been  restored  to  their  normal 
condition. 

It  is  difficult  in  a  great  country  like  India  where  wages 
are  so  small  and  the  cost  of  living  is  so  insignificant 
compared  with  our  own  country,  to  judge  accurately  of 
the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes.  The  empire  is  so 
vast  and  so  diverse  in  all  its  features  that  a  statement 


78  MODERN  INDIA 

which  may  accurately  apply  to  one  province  will  misrep- 
resent another.  But,  taking  one  consideration  with 
another,  as  the  song  says,  and  drawing  an  average,  it  is 
plainly  evident  that  the  peasant  population  of  India  is 
slowly  improving  in  condition.  The  scales  of  wages  hive 
undoubtedly  risen ;  there  has  been  an  improvement  in  the 
housing  and  the  feeding  of  the  masses ;  their  sanitary 
condition  has  been  radically  changed,  although  they  have 
fought  against  it,  and  the  slow  but  gradual  development 
of  the  material  resources  of  the  country  promises  to  make 
the  improvement  permanent. 

The  chief  source  of  revenue  in  India  from  ancient  times 
has  been  a  share  in  the  crops  of  the  farmers.  The  pres- 
ent system  has  been  handed  down  through  the  centuries 
with  very  little  modification,  and  as  three-fifths  of  the 
people  are  entirely  and  directly  dependent  upon  the  culti- 
vation of  the  land,  the  whole  fabric  of  society  has  been 
based  upon  that  source  of  wealth.  The  census  gives 
191,691,731  people  as  agriculturists,  of  whom  131,000,- 
000  till  their  own  or  rented  land,  18,750,000  receive  in- 
comes as  landlord  owners  and  the  remainder  are  agri- 
cultural laborers.  The  landlord  caste  are  the  descend- 
ants of  hereditary  chiefs,  of  former  revenue  farmers  and 
persons  of  importance  to  whom  land  grants  were  made 
in  ancient  times.  Large  tracts  of  land  in  northern  India 
are  owned  by  municipalities  and  village  communities, 
whose  officials  receive  the  rents  and  pay  the  taxes.  Other 
large  tracts  have  been  inherited  from  the  invaders  and 
conquerors  of  the  country.  It  is  customary  in  India  for 
the  landlord  to  receive  his  rent  in  a  part  of  the  crop,  and 
the  government  in  turn  receives  a  share  of  this  rent  in 
lieu  of  taxes.  This  is  an  ancient  system  which  the  Brit- 
ish government  has  never  interfered  with,  and  any  at- 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  79 

tempt  to  modify  or  chaftge  it  would  undoubtedly  be 
resisted.  At  the  same  time  the  rents  are  largely  regu- 
lated by  the  taxes.  These  customs,  which  have  come 
down  from  the  Mogul  empire,  have  been  defined  and 
strengthened  by  time  and  experience.  Nearly  every  prov- 
ince has  its  own  and  different  laws  and  customs  on  the 
subject,  but  the  variation  is  due  not  to  legislation,  but 
to  public  sentiment.  The  tenant  as  well  as  the  landlord 
insists  that  the  assessments  of  taxes  shall  be  made  before 
the  rent  rate  is  determined,  and  this  occurs  in  almost 
every  province,  although  variations  in  rent  and  changes 
of  proprietorship  and  tenantry  very  seldom  occur. 
Wherever  there  has  been  a  change  during  the  present 
generation  it  has  been  in  favor  of  the  tenants.  The  rates 
of  rent  and  taxation  naturally  vary  according  to  the  pro- 
ductive power  of  the  land,  the  advantages  of  climate  and 
rainfall,  the  facilities  for  reaching  market  and  other  con- 
ditions. But  the  average  tax  represents  about  two-thirds 
of  a  rupee  per  acre,  or  21  cents  in  American  money. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  consider  India  a  great 
wheat  producing  country,  and  you  often  hear  of  appre- 
hension on  the  part  of  American  political  economists  lest 
its  cheap  labor  and  enormous  area  should  give  our  wheat 
growers  serious  competition.  But  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est ground  for  apprehension.  While  the  area  planted  to 
wheat  in  India  might  be  doubled,  and  farm  labor  earns 
only  a  few  cents  a  day,  the  methods  of  cultivation  are  so 
primitive  and  the  results  of  that  cheap  labor  are  com- 
paratively so  small,  that  they  can  never  count  seriously 
against  our  wheat  farms  which  are  tilled  and  harvested 
with  machinery  and  intelligence.  No  article  in  the  Indian 
export  trade  has  been  so  irregular  or  has  experienced 
greater  vicissitudes  than  wheat.     The  highest  figure  ever 


8o  MODERN  INDIA 

reached  in  the  value  of  exports  was  during  the  years 
1891-92,  when  there  was  an  exceptional  crop,  and  the 
exports  reached  $47,500,000.  The  average  for  the  pre- 
ceding ten  years  was  $25,970,000,  while  the  average  for 
the  succeeding  ten  years,  ending  1901-02,  was  only 
$12,740,000.  This  extraordinary  decrease  was  due  to  the 
failure  of  the  crop  year  after  year  and  the  influence  of  the 
famines  of  1897  and  1900.  The  bulk  of  the  wheat  pro- 
duced in  India  is  consumed  within  the  districts  where  it 
is  raised,  and  the  average  size  of  the  wheat  farms  is  less 
than  five  acres.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  India 
wheat  crop  is  grown  on  little  patches  of  ground  only  a 
few  feet  square,  and  sold  in  the  local  markets.  The  great 
bulk  of  the  wheat  exported  comes  from  the  large  farms  or 
is  turned  in  to  the  owners  of  land  rented  to  tenants  for 
shares  of  the  crops  produced. 

The  coal  industry  is  becoming  important.  There  are 
329  mines  in  operation,  which  yielded  7,424,480  tons 
during  the  calendar  year  of  1902,  an  increase  of  nearly 
1,000,000  tons  in  the  five  years  ending  1903.  It  is  a  fair 
grade  of  bituminous  coal  and  does  well  for  steaming  pur- 
poses. Twenty-eight  per  cent  of  the  total  output  was 
consumed  by  the  local  railway  locomotives  in  1902,  and 
431,552  tons  was  exported  to  Ceylon  and  other  neighbor- 
ing countries.  The  first  mine  was  opened  in  India  as  long 
ago  as  1820,  but  it  was  the  only  one  worked  for  twenty 
years,  and  the  development  of  the  industry  has  been  very 
slow,  simply  keeping  pace  with  the  increase  of  railways, 
mills,  factories  and  other  consumers.  But  the  production 
is  entirely  sufficient  to  meet  the  local  demand,  and  only 
23,417  tons  was  imported  in  1902,  all  of  which  came  as 
ballast.  The  industry  gives  employment  to  about  98,000 
persons.     Most  of  the  stock  in  the  mining  companies  is 


THE  EMPIRE  OF  INDIA  8i 

owned  by  private  citizens  of  India.  The  prices  in  Cal- 
cutta and  Bombay  vary  from  $2.30  to  $2.85  a  ton. 

India  is  rich  in  mineral  deposits,  but  few  of  them  have 
been  developed,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  lack  of  capital 
and  enterprise.  After  coal,  petroleum  is  the  most  im- 
portant item,  and  in  1902  nearly  57,000,000  gallons  was 
refined  and  sold  in  the  India  market,  but  this  was  not 
sufficient  to  meet  half  the  demand,  and  about  81,000,000 
gallons  was  imported  from  the  United  States  and  Russia. 

Gold  mining  is  carried  on  in  a  primitive  way  in  several 
of  the  provinces,  chiefly  by  the  washing  of  river  sand. 
Valuable  gold  deposits  are  known  to  exist,  but  no  one  has 
had  the  enterprise  or  the  capital  to  undertake  their  devel- 
opment, simply  because  costly  machinery  is  required  and 
would  call  for  a  heavy  investment.  Most  of  the  gold 
washing  is  done  by  natives  with  rude,  home-made  imple- 
ments, and  the  total  production  reported  for  $1902  was 
517,639  ounces,  valued  at  $20  an  ounce.  This,  however, 
does  not  tell  more  than  half  the  story.  It  represents  only 
the  amount  of  gold  shipped  out  of  the  country,  while  at 
least  as  much  again,  if  not  more,  was  consumed  by  local 
artisans  in  the  manufacture  of  the  jewelry  which  is  so 
popular  among  the  natives.  When  a  Hindu  man  or 
woman  gets  a  little  money  ahead  he  or  she  invariably 
buys  silver  or  gold  ornaments  with  it,  instead  of  placing 
it  in  a  savings  bank  or  making  other  investm.ents.  Nearly 
all  women  and  children  that  you  see  are  loaded  with  silver 
ornaments,  their  legs  and  feet  as  well  as  their  hands  and 
arms,  and  necklaces  of  silver  weighing  a  pound  or  more 
are  common.  Girdles  of  beautifully  wrought  silver  are 
sometimes  worn  next  to  the  bare  skin  by  ordinary  coolies 
working  on  the  roads  or  on  the  docks  of  the  rivers,  and 
in  every  town  you  visit  you  will  find  hundreds  of  shops 


82  MODERN  INDIA 

devoted  to  the  sale  of  silver  and  gold  adornments  of  rude 
workmanship  but  put  metal.  The  upper  classes  invest 
their  savings  in  gold  and  precious  stones  for  similar  rea- 
sons. There  is  scarcely  a  family  of  the  middle  class 
without  a  jewel  case  containing  many  articles  of  great 
value,  while  both  the  men  and  women  of  the  rich  and 
noble  castes  own  and  wear  on  ceremonial  occasions  amaz- 
ing collections  of  precious  stones  and  gold  ornaments 
which  have  been  handed  down  by  their  ancestors  who  in- 
vested their  surplus  wealth  in  them  at  a  time  when  no 
safe  securities  were  to  be  had  and  savings  banks  had  not 
been  introduced  into  India.  A  large  proportion  of  the 
native  gold  is  consumed  by  local  artisans  in  the  manu- 
facture of  these  ornaments,  and  is  not  counted  in  the 
official  returns.  An  equal  amount,  perhaps,  is  worked  up 
into  gold  foil  and  used  for  gilding  temples,  palaces  and 
the  houses  of  the  rich.  Like  all  orientals,  the  Indians  are 
very  fond  of  gilding,  and  immense  quantities  of  pure  gold 
leaf  are  manufactured  in  little  shops  that  may  be  seen  in 
every  bazaar  you  visit. 

India  now  ranks  second  among  the  manganese  ore  pro- 
ducing countries  of  the  world,  and  has  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  the  highest  grade.  The  quality  of  the  ores  from 
the  central  provinces  permits  their  export  in  the  face  of 
a  railway  haul  of  500  miles  and  sea  transportation  to 
England,  Belgium,  Germany  and  the  United  States,  but, 
speaking  generally,  the  mineral  development  of  India  has 
not  yet  begun. 


V 

Two    HINDU    WEDDINGS 

There  was  a  notable  wedding  at  Baroda,  the  capital  of 
one  of  the  Native  States  of  the  same  name,  while  we 
were  in  India,  and  the  Gaikwar,  as  the  ruling  prince  is 
called,  expressed  a  desire  for  us  to  be  present.  He  has  a 
becoming  respect  for  and  appreciation  of  the  influence 
and  usefulness  of  the  press,  and  it  was  a  pleasure  to  find 
so  sensible  a  man  among  the  native  rulers.  But,  owing 
to  circumstances  over  which  we  had  no  control,  we  had 
to  deny  ourselves  the  gratification  of  witnessing  an  event 
which  few  foreigners  have  ever  been  allowed  to  see.  It 
is  a  pity  winter  is  so  short  in  the  East,  for  there  are  so 
many  countries  one  cannot  comfortably  visit  any  other 
time  of  year. 

Baroda  is  a  non-tributary,  independent  native  state  of 
the  first  rank,  lying  directly  north  of  the  province  of 
Bombay,  and  its  ruler  is  called  a  "gaikwar,"  which  signi- 
fies "cowherd,"  and  the  present  possessor  of  that  title  is 
one  of  the  biggest  men  in  the  empire,  one  of  the  richest 
and  one  of  the  greatest  swells.  He  is  entitled  to  a  salute 
of  twenty-one  guns,  an  honor  conferred  upon  only  two 
other  native  princes,  the  Maharajah  of  Mysore  and  the 
Nizam  of  Hyderabad.  He  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  one 
of  the  most  progressive  of  the  native  princes.  His  family 
trace  their  descent  back  to  the  gods  of  mythology,  but  he 
is  entirely  human  himself,  and  a  handsome  man  of  mid- 

83 


84  MODERN  INDIA 

die  age.  When  we  saw  him  for  the  first  time  he  had  half 
a  dozen  garlands  of  flowers  hanging  around  his  neck,  and 
three  or  four  big  bouquets  in  his  hand,  which,  according 
to  tlie  custom  of  the  country,  had  been  presented  to  him 
by  affectionate  friends.  It  was  he  who  presented  to-  the 
City  of  Bombay  the  beautiful  statue  of  Queen  Victoria 
which  ornaments  the  principal  public  square.  It  is  one 
of  the  finest  monuments  to  be  seen  anywhere,  and  ex- 
pressed his  admiration  of  his  empress,  who  had  shown 
particular  interest  in  his  career.  The  present  gaikwar 
was  placed  upon  the  throne  in  1874  by  Lord  Northbrook, 
when  he  was  Viceroy  of  India,  to  succeed  Malhar  Rao, 
one  of  those  fantastic  persons  we  read  about  in  fairy 
stories  but  seldom  find  in  real  life.  For  extravagant 
phantasies  and  barbaric  splendors  he  beat  the  world.  He 
surpassed  even  those  old  spendthrifts  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, Nero,  Caligula  and  Tiberius.  He  spent  a  million 
of  rupees  to  celebrate  the  marriage  ceremonies  of  a  fa- 
vorite pigeon  of  his  aviary,  which  was  mated  with  one 
belonging  to  his  prime  minister.  But  the  most  remark- 
able of  his  extravagant  freaks  was  a  rug  and  two  pillow 
covers  of  pearls,  probably  the  greatest  marvel  of  all  fab- 
rics that  were  ever  woven  since  the  world  was  made. 

The  carpet,  ten  feet  six  inches  by  six  feet  in  size,  is 
woven  entirely  of  strings  of  perfect  pearls.  A  border 
eleven  inches  wide  and  a  center  ornament  are  worked  out 
in  diamonds.  The  pillow  covers  are  three  feet  by  two 
feet  six  inches  in  size.  For  three  years  the  jewel  mer- 
chants of  India,  and  they  are  many,  were  searching  for 
the  material  for  this  extraordinary  affair.  It  cost  several 
millions  of  dollars  and  was  intended  as  a  present  for  a 
Mohammedan  lady  of  doubtful  reputation,  who  had  fas- 
cinated   His    Highness.      The    British    Resident   at    his 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  85 

capital  intervened  and  prohibited  the  gift  on  the  ground 
that  the  State  of  Baroda  could  not  afford  to  indulge  its 
ruler  in  such  generosity,  and  that  the  scandal  would 
reflect  upon  the  administration  of  the  Indian  Empire. 
The  carpet  still  belongs  to  the  State  and  may  be  seen  by 
visitors  upon  a  permit  from  one  of  the  higher  authorities. 
It  is  kept  at  Baroda  in  a  safe  place  with  the  rest  of  the 
state  jewels,  which  are  the  richest  in  India  and  probably 
the  most  costly  belonging  to  any  government  in  the  world. 

The  regalia  of  the  gaikwar  intended  for  state  occa- 
sions, which  was  worn  by  him  at  the  wedding,  is  valued 
at  $i5,ooo,ocK).  He  appeared  in  it  at  the  Delhi  durbar  in 
1903.  It  consists  of  a  collar  and  shoulder  pieces  made 
of  500  diamonds,  some  of  them  as  large  as  walnuts.  The 
smallest  would  be  considered  a  treasure  by  any  lady  in 
the  land.  The  border  of  this  collar  is  made  of  three 
bands  of  emeralds,  of  graduated  sizes,  the  outer  row  con- 
sisting of  jewels  nearly  an  inch  square.  From  the  collar, 
as  a  pendant,  hangs  one  of  the  largest  and  most  famous 
diamonds  in  the  world,  known  as  the  "Star  of  the  Dec- 
can."  Its  history  may  be  found  in  any  work  on  jewels. 
There  is  an  aigrette  to  match  the  collar,  which  His  High- 
ness wears  in  his  turban. 

This  is  only  one  of  several  sets  to  be  found  in  the  col- 
lection, which  altogether  would  make  as  brave  a  show  as 
you  can  find  at  Tiffany's.  There  are  strings  of  pearls  as 
large  as  marbles,  and  a  rope  of  pearls  nearly  four  feet 
long  braided  of  four  strands.  Every  pearl  is  said  to  be 
perfect  and  the  size  of  a  pea.  The  rope  is  about  an  inch 
in  diameter.  Besides  these  are  necklaces,  bracelets, 
brooches,  rings  and  every  conceivable  ornament  set  with 
jewels  of  every  variety,  which  have  been  handed  down 
from  generation  to  generation  in  this  princely  family  for 


86  MODERN  INDIA 

several  hundred  years.  One  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  necklaces  is  made  of  uncut  rubies  said  to  have  been 
found  in  India.  It  has  been  worn  for  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years.  These  jewels  are  kept  in  a  treasure-room  in 
the  heart  of  the  Nazar  Bgah  Palace,  guarded  night  and 
day  by  a  battalion  of  soldiers.  At  night  when  the  palace 
is  closed  half  a  dozen  huge  cheetahs,  savage  beasts  of  the 
leopard  family,  are  released  in  the  corridors,  and,  as  you 
may  imagine,  they  are  efficient  watchmen.  They  would 
make  a  burglar  very  unhappy.  During  the  daytime  they 
are  allowed  to  wander  about  the  palace  grounds,  but  are 
carefully  muzzled. 

Malhar  Rao  built  a  superb  palace  at  a  cost  of  $1,500,000 
which  is  considered  the  most  perfect  and  beautiful  exam- 
ple of  the  Hindu-Saracenic  order  of  architecture  in  exist- 
ence, and  its  interior  finish  and  decoration  are  wonderful 
for  their  artistic  beauty,  detail  and  variety.  In  front  of 
the  main  entrance  are  two  guns  of  solid  gold,  weighing 
two  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  each,  and  the  carriages, 
ammunition  wagons  and  other  accoutrements  are  made  of 
solid  silver.  The  present  Maharajah  is  said  to  have  de- 
cided to  melt  them  down  and  have  them  coined  into  good 
money,  with  which  he  desires  to  endow  a  technical  school. 

Behind  the  palace  is  a  great  walled  arena  in  which  pre- 
vious rulers  of  Baroda  have  had  fights  between  elephants, 
tigers,  lions  and  other  wild  beasts  for  the  amusement  of 
their  court  and  the  population  generally.  And  they  re- 
mind you  of  those  we  read  about  in  the  Colosseum  in  the 
time  of  Nero  and  other  Roman  emperors.  Baroda  has 
one  of  the  finest  zoological  gardens  in  the  world,  but  most 
of  the  animals  are  native  to  India.  It  is  surrounded  by  a 
botanical  garden,  in  which  the  late  gaikwar,  who  was  pas- 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  87 

sionately  fond  of  plants  and  flowers,  took  a  great  deal  of 
interest  and  spent  a  great  deal  of  money. 

He  built  a  temple  at  Dakor,  a  few  miles  from  Baroda, 
which  cost  an  enormous  sum  of  money,  in  honor  of  an 
ancient  image  of  the  Hindu  god,  Krishna.  It  has  been 
the  resort  of  pilgrims  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  sacred  idols  of  India.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  temple  he  constructed  hospices  for  the  shelter 
and  entertainment  of  pilgrims,  who  come  nowadays  in 
larger  numbers  than  ever,  sometimes  as  many  as  a  hun- 
dred thousand  in  a  year,  and  are  all  fed  and  cared  for, 
furnished  comfortable  clothing  and  medical  attendance, 
bathed,  healed  and  comforted  at  the  expense  of  His  High- 
ness, whose  generosity  and  hospitality  are  not  limited  to 
his  own  subjects.  The  throne  of  the  idol  Krishna  in 
that  temple  is  a  masterpiece  of  wood  carving  and  bears 
$60,000  worth  of  gold  ornaments.  Artists  say  that  this 
temple,  although  entirely  modern,  surpasses  in  the  beauty 
of  its  detail,  both  in  design  and  workmanship,  any  of  the 
old  temples  in  India  which  people  come  thousands  of 
miles  to  see. 

Fate  at  last  overtook  the  strange  man  who  did  all  these 
things  and  he  came  to  grief.  Indignant  at  Colonel 
Phayre,  the  British  Resident,  for  interfering  with  his 
wishes  in  regard  to  the  pearl  carpet  and  some  other  little 
fancies,  he  attempted  to  poison  him  in  an  imperial  man- 
ner. He  caused  a  lot  of  diamonds  to  be  ground  up  into 
powder  and  dropped  into  a  cup  of  pomolo  juice,  which 
he  tried  to  induce  his  prudent  adviser  to  drink.  Ordi- 
nary drug  store  poison  was  beneath  him.  When  Malhar 
Rao  committed  a  crime  he  did  it,  as  he  did  everything  else, 
with  royal  splendor.  He  had  tried  the  same  trick  suc- 
cessfully  upon   his    brother   and   predecessor,    Gaikwar 


88  MODERN  INDIA 

Khandc  Rao,  the  man  who  built  a  beautiful  sailors'  home 
at  Bombay  in  1870  to  commemorate  the  visit  of  the  Duke 
of  Edinburgh  to  India.  Colonel  Phayre  suspected  some- 
thing wrong,  and  declined  to  drink  the  toast  His  Highness 
offered.  The  plot  was  soon  afterward  discovered  and 
Viceroy  Lord  Northbrook,  who  had  tolerated  his  tyranny 
and  fantastic  performances  as  long  as  possible,  made  an 
investigation  and  ordered  him  before  a  court  over  which 
the  chief  justice  of  Bengal  presided.  The  evidence  dis- 
closed a  most  scandalous  condition  of  affairs  throughout 
the  entire  province.  Public  offices  were  sold  to  the  high- 
est bidder;  demands  for  blackmail  were  enforced  by  tor- 
ture ;  the  wives  and  daughters  of  his  subjects  were  seized 
at  his  will  and  carried  to  his  palace  whenever  their  beauty 
attracted  his  attention.  The  condition  of  the  people  was 
desperate.  In  one  district  there  was  open  rebellion ;  dis- 
content prevailed  everywhere  and  the  methods  of  admin- 
istration were  infamous.  It  was  shown  that  a  previous 
prime  minister  had  been  poisoned  by  direct  orders  of  his 
chief  and  that  with  his  own  hands  the  gaikwar  had  beaten 
one  of  his  own  servants  to  death.  Two  Hindu  judges  of 
the  court  voted  for  acquittal,  but  the  remainder  found  him 
guilty.  As  the  judgment  w^as  not  unanimous,  Mahal  Rao 
escaped  the  death  penalty  which  he  deserved,  and  w^ould 
have  suffered  but  for  the  sympathy  of  his  judicial  co- 
religionists. He  was  deposed  and  sent  to  prison,  and 
when  an  investigation  of  his  finances  was  made,  it  was 
found  that  during  the  last  year  of  his  reign  he  had  wasted 
$3,500,000  in  gifts  to  his  favorites,  in  gratifying  his 
whims  and  fancies,  and  for  personal  pleasures.  All  of 
which  was  wrung  from  the  people  by  taxation. 

After  his  conviction  the   widow   of  his  brother   and 
predecessor,  Kliande  Rao,  whom  he  had  poisoned,  was 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  89 

allowed  to  exercise  the  right  of  adoption,  and  her  choice 
fell  upon  the  present  gaikwar,  then  a  lad  of  eleven,  be- 
longing to  a  collateral  branch  of  the  family.  He  was 
provided  with  English  tutors  and  afterward  sent  to  Eng- 
land to  complete  his  education.  He  proved  a  brilliant 
scholar,  an  industrious,  earnest,  practical  man,  and,  as  I 
have  said.  Queen  Victoria  took  a  great  personal  interest 
in  him.  When  he  came  to  the  throne  in  1874,  he  im- 
mediately applied  himself  with  energy  and  intelligence  to 
the  administration  of  the  government  and  surrounded 
himself  with  the  best  English  advisers  he  could  get. 
Since  his  accession  the  condition  of  Baroda  has  entirely 
changed  and  is  in  striking  contrast  with  that  which  ex- 
isted under  his  predecessors.  Many  taxes  have  been 
abolished  and  more  have  been  reduced.  Public  works 
have  been  constructed  everywhere ;  schools,  colleges,  hos- 
pitals, asylums,  markets,  water  works,  electric  lighting 
plants,  manufactories  and  sanitary  improvements  have 
been  introduced,  competent  courts  have  been  established 
and  the  province  has  become  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
in  India. 

Baroda  is  called  "The  Garden  of  India."  It  occupies 
a  fine  plain  with  rich  alluvial  soil,  well  watered,  and 
almost  entirely  under  cultivation.  It  produces  luxurious 
crops  of  grain,  cotton,  sugar,  tobacco  and  other  staples, 
and  the  greater  part  of  them  are  turned  from  raw  material 
into  the  finished  product  in  factories  scattered  through- 
the  state.  We  were  advised  that  Baroda  is  the  best  place 
in  India  to  study  the  native  arts  and  fabrics.  The  manu- 
facturing is  chiefly  controlled  by  Parsees,  descendants  of 
Persian  fugitives  who  fled  to  India  and  settled  in  Baroda 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  in  their  temple  at 
Navasari,  a  thriving  manufacturing  town,  the  sacred  fire 


90  MODERN  INDIA 

has  been  burning'  uninterruptedly  for  five  hundred  years. 
The  City  of  Baroda  has  about  125,000  population.  The 
principal  streets  arc  lined  with  houses  of  teakwood,  whose 
fronts  are  elaborately  carved.  Their  like  cannot  be  seen 
elsewhere.  The  maharajah  keeps  up  the  elephant  stables 
of  his  predecessor  in  which  are  bred  and  kept  the  finest 
animals  in  India.  He  also  breeds  the  best  oxen  in  the 
empire. 

Through  the  good  offices  of  Mr,  Fee,  our  consul  at 
Bombay,  we  received  invitations  to  a  Hindu  wedding  in 
high  life.  The  groom  was  a  young  widower,  a  merchant 
of  wealth  and  important  commercial  connections,  a  grad- 
uate of  Elphinstone  College,  speaks  English  fluently,  and 
is  a  favorite  with  the  foreign  colony.  The  bride  was 
the  daughter  of  a  widow  whose  late  husband  was  similarly 
situated,  a  partner  in  a  rich  mercantile  and  commission 
house,  well  known  and  respected.  The  family  are  liberal 
in  their  views,  and  the  daughter  has  been  educated  at  one 
of  the  American  mission  schools,  although  they  still 
adhere  to  Hinduism,  their  ancestral  religion.  The  groom's 
family  are  equally  liberal,  but,  like  many  prominent  fami- 
lies of  educated  natives,  do  not  have  the  moral  courage 
or  the  independence  to  renounce  the  faith  in  which  they 
were  born.  The  inhabitants  of  India  are  the  most  con- 
servative of  all  peoples,  and  while  an  educated  and  pro- 
gressive Hindu  will  tell  you  freely  that  he  does  not 
believe  in  the  gods  and  superstitions  of  his  fathers,  and 
will  denounce  the  Brahmins  as  ignorant  impostors,  respect 
for  public  opinion  will  not  permit  him  to  make  an  open 
declaration  of  his  loss  of  faith.  These  two  families  are 
examples,  and  when  their  sons  and  daughters  are  mar- 
ried, or  when  they  die,  observe  all  the  social  and  religious 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  91 

customs  of  their  race  and  preserve  the  family  traditions 
unbroken. 

The  home  of  the  bridegroom's  family  is  an  immense 
wooden  house  in  the  native  quarter,  and  when  we  reached 
it  we  had  to  pass  through  a  crowd  of  coolies  that  filled 
the  street.  The  gate  and  outside  walls  were  gayly  deco- 
rated with  bunting  and  Japanese  lanterns,  all  ready  to  be 
lighted  as  soon  as  the  sun  went  down.  A  native  orchestra 
was  playing  doleful  music  in  one  of  the  courts,  and  a 
brass  band  of  twenty  pieces  in  military  uniforms  from 
the  barracks  was  waiting  its  turn.  A  hallway  which  leads 
to  a  large  drawing-room  in  the  rear  of  the  house  was 
spread  with  scarlet  matting,  the  walls  were  hung  with 
gay  prints,  and  Japanese  lanterns  were  suspended  from 
the  ceiling  at  intervals  of  three  or  four  feet.  The  first 
room  was  filled  with  women  and  children  eating  ices  and 
sweetmeats.  Men  guests  were  not  allowed  to  join  them. 
It  was  then  half  past  four,  and  we  were  told  that  they 
had  been  enjoying  themselves  in  that  innocent  way  since 
noon,  and  would  remain  until  late  in  the  evening,  for  it 
was  the  only  share  they  could  have  in  the  wedding  cere- 
monies. Hindu  women  and  men  cannot  mingle  even  on 
such  occasions. 

The  men  folks  were  in  the  large  drawing-room,  seated 
in  rows  of  chairs  facing  each  other,  with  an  aisle  four  or 
five  feet  wide  in  the  center.  There  were  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men,  for  the  groom  has  a  wide  acquaintance 
and  intimate  friends  among  Mohammedans,  Jains,  Par- 
sees,  Roman  Catholics,  Protestants  and  all  the  many  other 
religions  in  Bombay,  and  he  invited  them  to  his  marriage. 
Several  foreign  ladies  were  given  seats  in  the  place  of 
honor  at  the  head  of  the  room  around  a  large  gilt  chair 
or  throne  which  stood  in  the  center  with  a  wreath  of 


92  MODERN  INDIA 

flowers  carelessly  thrown  over  the  back.  There  were  two 
American  missionaries  and  their  wives,  a  Jesuit  priest 
and  several  English  women. 

Soon  after  we  were  seated  there  was  a  stir  on  the  out- 
side and  the  groom  appeared  arrayed  in  the  whitest  of 
white  linen  robes,  a  turban  of  white  and  gold  silk,  an 
exquisite  cashmere  shawl  over  his  shoulders,  and  a  string 
of  diamonds  around  his  neck  that  were  worth  a  rajah's 
ransom.  His  hands  were  adorned  with  several  hand- 
some rings,  including  one  great  emerald  set  in  diamonds, 
so  big  that  you  could  see  it  across  the  room.  Around  his 
neck  was  a  garland  of  marigolds  that  fell  to  his  waist, 
and  he  carried  a  big  bridal  bouquet  in  his  hand.  As  soon 
as  he  was  seated  a  group  of  nautch  dancers,  accompanied 
by  a  native  orchestra,  appeared  and  performed  one  of  their 
melancholy  dances.  The  nautches  may  be  very  wicked, 
but  they  certainly  are  not  attractive  in  appearance.  Their 
dances  are  very  much  like  an  exercise  in  the  Delsarte 
method  of  elocution,  being  done  with  the  arms  more 
than  with  the  legs,  and  consisting  of  slow,  graceful  ges- 
ticulations such  as  a  dreamy  poet  might  use  when  he 
soliloquizes  to  the  stars.  There  is  nothing  sensuous  or 
suggestive  in  them.  The  movements  are  no  more  im- 
modest than  knitting  or  quilting  a  comfortable — and  are 
just  about  as  exciting.  Each  dance  is  supposed  to  be  a 
poem  expressed  by  gesture  and  posturing — the  poetry  of 
motion — a  sentimental  pantomime,  and  imaginative  Hin- 
dus claim  to  be  able  to  follow  the  story.  The  orchestra, 
playing  several  queer  looking  fiddles,  drums,  clarinets 
and  other  instruments,  is  employed  to  assist  in  the  in- 
terpretation, and  produces  the  most  dreary  and  monoto- 
nous sounds  without  the  slightest  trace  of  theme  or 
melody   or  rhythm.     While   I   don't   want  to   be   irrev- 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  93 

erent,  they  reminded  me  of  a  slang  phrase  you  hear 
in  the  country  about  "the  tune  the  old  cow  died  of." 
Hindu  music  is  worse  than  that  you  hear  in  China  or 
Japan,  because  it  is  so  awfully  solemn  and  slow.  The 
Chinese  and  Japanese  give  you  a  lot  of  noise  if  they 
lack  harmony,  but  when  a  Hindu  band  reaches  a  fortissi- 
mo passage  it  sounds  exactly  as  if  some  child  were  trying 
to  play  a  bagpipe  for  the  first  time. 

When  I  made  an  observation  concerning  the  apparent 
innocence  and  unattractiveness  of  the  nautch  girls  to  a 
missionary  lady  who  sat  in  the  next  seat,  she  looked  horri- 
fied, and  admonished  me  in  a  whisper  that,  while  there 
was  nothing  immodest  in  the  performance,  they  were 
depraved,  deceitful  and  dissolute  creatures,  arrayed  in 
gorgeous  raiment  for  the  purpose  of  enticing  men.  And 
it  is  certainly  true  that  they  were  clad  in  the  most  daz- 
zling costumes  of  gold  brocades  and  gauzy  stuffs  that 
floated  like  clouds  around  their  heads  and  shoulders,  and 
their  ears,  noses,  arms,  ankles,  necks,  fingers  and  toes 
were  all  loaded  with  jewelry. 

But  their  costumes  were  not  half  as  gay  as  those  worn 
by  some  of  the  gentlemen  guests.  The  Parsees  wore 
black  or  white  with  closely  buttoned  frocks  and  caps  that 
look  like  fly-traps ;  the  Mohammedans  wore  flowing  robes 
of  white,  and  the  Hindus  silks  of  the  liveliest  patterns 
and  the  most  vivid  colors.  No  ballroom  belle  ever  was 
enveloped  by  brighter  tinted  fabrics  than  the  silks,  satins, 
brocades  and  velvets  that  were  worn  by  the  dignified 
Hindu  gentlemen  at  this  wedding,  and  their  jewels  were 
such  as  our  richest  women  wear.  A  Hindu  gentleman  in 
full  dress  must  have  a  necklace,  an  aigrette  of  diamonds,  a 
sunburst  in  front  of  his  turban,  and  two  or  three  brooches 
upon  his  shoulders  or  breast.    And  all  this  over  bare  legs 


94  MODERN  INDIA 

and  bare  feet.  They  wear  slippers  or  sandals  out  of 
doors,  but  leave  them  in  the  hallway  or  in  the  vestibule, 
and  cross  the  threshold  of  the  house  in  naked  feet.  The 
bridegroom  was  bare  legged,  but  had  a  pair  of  embroid- 
ered slippers  on  his  feet,  because  he  was  soon  to  take  a  ■ 
long  walk  and  could  not  very  well  stop  to  put  them  on 
without  sacrificing  appearances. 

They  brought  us  trays  of  native  refreshments,  while 
the  nautch  girls  danced,  handed  each  guest  a  nosegay  and 
placed  a  pair  of  cocoanuts  at  his  feet,  which  had  some 
deep  significance — I  could  not  quite  understand  what. 
The  groom  did  not  appear  to  be  enjoying  himself.  He 
looked  very  unhappy.  He  evidently  did  not  like  to  sit  up 
in  a  gilded  chair  so  that  everybody  could  stare  and  make 
remarks  about  him,  for  that  is  exactly  what  his  guests 
were  doing,  criticising  his  bare  legs,  commenting  upon 
his  jewels  and  guessing  how  much  his  diamond  necklace 
cost.  He  was  quite  relieved  when  a  couple  of  gentlemen, 
who  seemed  to  be  acting  as  masters  of  ceremonies,  placed 
a  second  garland  of  flowers  around  his  neck — which  one 
of  them  whispered  to  me  had  just  come  from  the  bride, 
the  first  one  having  been  the  gift  of  his  mother — and  led 
him  out  of  the  room  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter. 

When  we  reached  the  street  a  procession  of  the  guests 
of  honor  was  formed,  while  policemen  drove  the  crowd 
back.  First  came  the  military  band,  then  the  masters  of 
ceremonies — each  having  a  cane  in  his  hand,  with  which 
he  motioned  back  the  crowd  that  lined  the  road  on  both 
sides  six  or  eight  tiers  deep.  Then  the  groom  marched 
all  alone  with  a  dejected  look  on  nis  face,  and  his  hands 
clasped  before  him.  After  him  came  the  foreign  guests, 
two  and  two,  as  long  as  they  were  able  to  keep  the  forma- 
tion, but  after  going  a  hundred  feet  the  crowd  became  so 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  95 

great  and  were  so  anxious  to  see  all  that  was  going  on, 
that  they  broke  the  line  and  mixed  up  with  the  wedding 
party,  and  even  surrounded  the  solitary  groom  like  a 
bodyguard,  so  that  we  who  were  coming  directly  after 
could  scarcely  see  him.  The  noisy  music  of  the  band 
had  aroused  the  entire  neighborhood,  and  in  the  march 
to  the  residence  of  the  bride's  family  we  passed  between 
thousands  of  spectators.  The  groom  was  exceedingly 
nervous.  Although  night  had  fallen  and  the  tempera- 
ture was  quite  cool,  the  perspiration  was  rolling  down 
his  face  in  torrents,  and  he  was  relieved  when  we  entered 
a  narrow  passage  which  had  been  cleared  by  the  police- 
men. 

The  bride's  house  was  decorated  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  groom's,  and  upon  a  tray  in  the  middle  of  a  big 
room  a  small  slow  fire  of  perfumed  wood  was  burning. 
The  groom  was  led  to  the  side  of  it,  and  stood  there, 
while  the  guests  were  seated  around  him — hooded  Hindu 
women  on  one  side  and  men  and  foreign  ladies  on  the 
other.  Then  his  trainers  made  him  sit  down  on  the  floor, 
cross-legged,  like  a  tailor.  Hindus  seldom  use  chairs,  or 
even  cushions.  Very  soon  four  Brahmins,  or  priests, 
appeared  from  somewhere  in  the  background  and  seated 
themselves  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  fire.  They  wore 
no  robes,  and  were  only  half  dressed.  Two  were  naked 
to  the  waist,  as  well  as  barefooted  and  barelegged.  One, 
who  had  his  head  shaved  like  a  prize  fighter  and  seemed 
to  be  the  officiating  clergyman,  had  on  what  looked  like 
a  red  flannel  shirt.  He  brought  his  tools  with  him,  and 
conducted  a  mysterious  ceremony,  which  I  cannot  de- 
scribe, because  it  was  too  long  and  complicated,  and  I 
could  not  make  any  notes.  A  gentleman  who  had  been 
requested  to  look  after  me  attempted  to  explain  what  it 


96  MODERN  INDIA 

meant,  as  the  ceremony  proceeded,  but  liis  English  was 
very  imperfect,  and  I  lost  a  good  deal  of  the  show  trying 
to  clear  up  his  meaning.  While  the  chief  priest  was  going 
through  a  ritual  his  deputies  chanted  mournful  and 
monotonous  strains  in  a  minor  key — repetitions  of  the 
same  lines  over  and  over  again.  They  were  praying  for 
the  favor  of  the  gods,  and  their  approval  of  the  marriage. 

After  the  groom  had  endured  it  alone  for  a  while  the 
bride  was  brought  in  by  her  brother-in-law,  who,  since 
the  death  of  her  father,  has  been  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold. He  was  clad  in  a  white  gauze  undershirt,  with 
short  sleeves,  and  the  ordinary  Hindu  robe  wrapped 
around  his  waist,  and  hanging  down  to  his  bare  knees. 
The  bride  had  a  big  bunch  of  pearls  hanging  from  her 
upper  lip,  gold  and  silver  rings  and  anklets  upon  her  bare 
feet,  and  her  head  was  so  concealed  under  wrappings  of 
shawls  that  she  would  have  smothered  in  the  hot  room 
had  not  one  of  her  playmates  gone  up  and  removed  the 
coverings  from  her  face.  This  playmate  was  a  lively 
matron  of  14  years,  a  fellow  pupil  at  the  missionary 
school,  who  had  been  married  at  the  age  of  9,  so  she  knew 
all  about  it,  and  had  adopted  foreign  manners  and  cus- 
toms sufficiently  to  permit  her  to  go  about  among  the 
guests,  chatting  with  both  gentlemen  and  ladies  with  per- 
fect self-possession.  She  told  us  all  about  the  bride,  who 
was  her  dearest  friend,  received  and  passed  around  the 
presents  as  they  arrived,  and  took  charge  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

The  bride  sat  down  on  the  floor  beside  the  husband  that 
had  been  chosen  for  her  and  timidly  clasped  his  hand 
while  the  priests  continued  chanting,  stopping  now  and 
then  to  breathe  or  to  anoint  the  foreheads  of  the  couple, 
or  to  throw  something  on  the  fire.    There  were  bowls  of 


TWO  HINDU  WEDDINGS  97 

several  kinds  of  food,  each  having  its  significance,  and 
several  kinds  of  plants  and  flowers,  and  incense,  which 
was  thrown  into  the  flames.  At  one  time  the  chief  priest 
arose  from  the  floor,  stretched  his  legs  and  read  a  long 
passage  from  a  book,  which  my  escort  said  was  the  sacred 
writing  in  Sanskrit  laying  down  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  government  of  Hindu  wives.  But  the  bride  and 
groom  paid  very  little  attention  to  the  priests  or  to 
the  ceremony.  After  the  first  embarrassment  was  over 
they  chatted  familiarly  with  their  friends,  both  foreign 
and  native,  who  came  and  squatted  down  beside  them. 
The  bride's  mother  cajne  quietly  into  the  circle  after  a 
while  and  sat  down  beside  her  son-in-law — a  slight 
woman,  whose  face  was  entirely  concealed.  When  the 
performance  had  been  going  on  for  about  an  hour  four 
more  priests  appeared  and  took  seats  in  the  background. 
When  I  asked  my  guardian  their  object,  he  replied,  sar- 
castically, that  it  was  money,  that  they  were  present  as 
witnesses,  and  each  of  them  would  expect  a  big  fee  as 
well  as  a  good  supper. 

"Poor  people  get  married  with  one  priest,"  he  added, 
"but  rich  people  have  to  have  many.  It  costs  a  lot  of 
money  to  get  married." 

Every  now  and  then  parcels  were  brought  in  by  serv- 
ants, and  handed  to  the  bride,  who  opened  them  with  the 
same  eagerness  that  American  girls  show  about  their 
wedding  presents,  but  before  she  had  been  given  half  a 
chance  to  examine  them  they  were  snatched  away  from 
her  and  passed  around.  There  were  enough  jewels  to  set 
the  groom  up  in  business,  for  all  the  relatives  on  both 
sides  are  rich,  several  beautifully  embroidered  shawls,  a 
copy  of  Tennyson's  poems,  a  full  set  of  Ruskin's  works,  a 
flexible  covered  Bible  from  the  bride's  school  teacher,  and 


98  MODERN  INDIA 

other  gifts  too  numerous  to  mention.  The  ceremony 
soon  became  tedious  and  the  crowded  room  was  hot  and 
stuffy.  It  was  an  ordeal  for  us  to  stay  as  long  as  we  did, 
and  we  endured  it  for  a  couple  of  hours,  but  it  was  ten 
times  worse  for  the  bride  and  groom,  for  they  had  to  sit 
on  the  floor  over  the  fire,  and  couldn't  even  stretch  their 
legs.  They  told  us  that  it  would  take  four  hours  more  to 
finish  the  ritual.  So  we  asked  our  hosts  to  excuse  us, 
offered  our  sympathy  and  congratulations  to  the  happy 
couple,  who  laughed  and  joked  with  us  in  English,  while 
the  priests  continued  to  sing  and  pray. 


VI 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA 


The  most  interesting  of  all  the  many  religious  sects  in 
India  are  the  Parsees,  the  residue  of  one  of  the  world's 
greatest  creeds,  descendants  of  the  disciples  of  Zoroaster, 
and  the  Persian  fire  worshipers,  who  sought  refuge  in 
India  from  the  persecution  of  the  all-conquering  Moham- 
medans about  the  seventh  century.  They  have  not  in- 
creased and  probably  have  diminished  in  numbers,  but 
have  retained  the  faith  of  their  fathers  undefiled,  which 
has  been  described  as  "the  most  sublime  expression  of 
religious  purity  and  thought  except  the  teachings  of 
Christ."  It  is  a  curious  fact,  however,  that  although  the 
Parsees  are  commercially  the  most  enterprising  people  in 
India,  and  the  most  highly  educated,  they  have  never  at- 
tempted to  propagate  or  even  to  make  known  their  faith 
to  the  world.  It  remained  for  Anquetil  Duperron,  a 
young  Frenchman,  a  Persian  scholar,  to  translate  the 
Zend  Avesta,  which  contains  the  teachings  of  Zoroaster, 
and  may  be  called  the  Parsee  bible.  And  even  now  the 
highest  authority  in  Parsee  theology  and  literature  is 
Professor  Jackson,  who  holds  the  chair  of  oriental  lan- 
guages in  Columbia  University,  New  York.  At  this  writ- 
ing Professor  Jackson  is  in  Persia  engaged  upon  investi- 
gations of  direct  interest  to  the  Parsees,  who  have  the 
highest  regard  and  affection  for  him,  and  perfect  con- 

99 


loo  MODERN  INDIA 

fidence  in  the  accuracy  of  his  treatment  of  their  theology 
in  which  they  permit  him  to  instruct  them. 

The  Parsees  have  undoubtedly  made  more  stir  in  the 
world  in  proportion  to  their  population  than  any  other 
race.  They  are  a  small  community,  and  number  only 
94,000  altogether,  of  whom  76,000  reside  in  Bombay. 
They  are  almost  without  exception  industrious  and  pros- 
perous, nearly  all  being  engaged  in  trade  and  manufact- 
uring, and  to  them  the  city  of  Bombay  owes  the  great- 
est part  of  its  wealth  and  commercial  influence. 

While  the  Parsees  teach  pure  and  lofty  morality,  and 
are  famous  for  their  integrity,  benevolence,  good 
thoughts,  good  works  and  good  deeds,  their  method  of 
disposing  of  their  dead  is  revolting.  For,  stripped  of 
every  thread  of  clothing,  the  bodies  of  their  nearest  and 
dearest  are  exposed  to  dozens  of  hungry  vultures,  which 
quickly  tear  the  flesh  from  the  bones. 

In  a  beautiful  grove  upon  the  top  of  a  hill  overlooking 
the  city  of  Bombay  and  the  sea,  surrounded  by  a  high, 
ugly  wall,  are  the  so-called  Towers  of  Silence,  upon 
which  these  hideous  birds  can  always  be  seen,  waiting  for 
their  feast.  They  roost  upon  palm  trees  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and,  often  in  their  flight,  drop  pieces  of  human 
flesh  from  their  beaks  or  their  talons,  which  lie  rotting  in 
the  fields  below.  An  English  lady  driving  past  the  Tow- 
ers of  Silence  was  naturally  horrified  when  the  finger  of 
a  dead  man  was  dropped  into  her  carriage  by  one  of  those 
awful  birds ;  and  an  army  officer  told  me,  that  he  once 
picked  up  by  the  roadside  the  forearm  and  hand  of  a 
woman  which  had  been  torn  from  a  body  only  a  few 
hours  dead  and  had  evidently  fallen  during  a  fight  be- 
tween the  birds.  The  reservoir  which  stores  the  water 
supply  of  Bombay  is  situated  upon  the  same  hill,  not  more 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  loi 

than  half  a  mile  distant,  and  for  obvious  reasons  had  been 
covered  with  a  roof.  Some  years  ago  the  municipal  au- 
thorities, having  had  their  attention  called  to  possible  pol- 
lution of  the  water,  notified  the  Parsees  that  the  Towers 
of  Silence  would  have  to  be  removed  to  a  distance  from 
the  city,  but  the  rich  members  of  that  faith  preferred  to 
pay  the  expense  of  roofing  over  the  reservoir  to  abandon- 
ing what  to  them  is  not  only  sacred  but  precious  ground. 
The  human  mind  can  adjust  itself  to  almost  any  condi- 
tions and  associations,  and  a  cultured  Parsee  will  en- 
deavor to  convince  you  by  clever  arguments  that  their 
method  is  not  only  humane  and  natural,  but  the  best  sani- 
tary method  ever  devised  of  disposing  of  the  dead. 

Funeral  ceremonies  are  held  at  the  residence  of  the 
dead ;  prayers  are  offered  and  eulogies  are  pronounced. 
Then  a  procession  is  formed  and  the  hearse  is  preceded 
by  priests  and  followed  by  the  male  members  of  the  fam- 
ily and  by  friends.  The  body  is  not  placed  in  a  coffin,  but 
is  covered  with  rich  shawls  and  vestments.  When  the 
gateway  of  the  outer  temple  is  reached,  priests  who  are 
permanently  attached  to  the  Towers  of  Silence  and  reside 
within  the  inclosure,  meet  the  procession  and  take  charge 
of  the  body,  which  is  first  carried  to  a  temple,  where 
prayers  are  offered,  and  a  sacred  fire,  kept  continually 
burning  there,  is  replenished.  While  the  friends  and 
mourners  are  engaged  in  worship,  Nasr  Salars,  as  the  at- 
tendants are  called,  take  the  bier  to  the  ante-room  of  one 
of  the  towers.  There  are  five,  of  circular  shape,  with 
walls  forty  feet  high,  perfectly  plain,  and  whitewashed. 
The  largest  is  276  feet  in  circumference  and  cost  $150,- 
000.  The  entrance  is  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  from 
the  ground  and  is  reached  by  a  flight  of  steps.  The  in- 
side plan  of  the  building  resembles  a  circular  gridiron 


I02  MODERN  INDIA 

gradually  depressed  toward  the  center,  at  which  there  is 
a  pit,  five  feet  in  diameter.  From  this  pit  cement  walks 
radiate  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel,  and  between  them  are 
three  series  of  compartments  extending  around  the  entire 
tower.  Those  nearest  the  center  are  about  four  feet  long, 
two  feet  wide  and  six  inches  deep.  The  next  series  are 
a  little  larger,  and  the  third,  larger  still,  and  they  are  in- 
tended respectively  for  men,  women  and  children. 

When  the  bearers  have  brought  the  body  into  the  ante- 
room of  the  tower  they  strip  it  entirely  of  its  clothing. 
Valuable  coverings  are  carefully  laid  away  and  sent  to 
the  chamber  of  purification,  where  they  are  thoroughly 
fumigated,  and  afterward  returned  to  the  friends.  The 
cotton  wrappings  are  burned.  The  body  is  laid  in  one  of 
the  compartments  entirely  naked,  and  in  half  an  hour  the 
flesh  is  completely  stripped  from  the  bones  by  voracious 
birds  that  have  been  eagerly  watching  the  proceedings 
from  the  tops  of  the  tall  palms  that  overlook  the  ceme- 
tery. There  are  about  two  hundred  vultures  around  the 
place ;  most  of  them  are  old  birds  and  are  thoroughly 
educated.  They  know  exactly  what  to  expect,  and  behave 
with  greatest  decorum.  They  never  enter  the  tower  until 
the  bearers  have  left  it,  and  usually  are  as  deliberate  and 
solemn  in  their  movements  as  a  lot  of  undertakers.  But 
sometimes,  when  they  are  particularly  hungry,  their 
greed  gets  the  better  of  their  dignity  and  they  quarrel 
and  fight  over  their  prey. 

After  the  bones  are  stripped  they  are  allowed  to  He  in 
the  sun  and  bleach  and  decay  until  the  compartment  they 
occupy  is  needed  for  another  body,  when  the  Nasr  Salars 
enter  with  gloves  and  tongs  and  cast  them  into  the  cen- 
tral pit,  where  they  finally  crumble  into  dust.  The  floor 
of  the  tower  is  so  arranged  that  all  the  rain  that  falls 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  103 

upon  it  passes  into  the  pit,  and  the  moisture  promotes  de- 
composition. The  bottom  of  the  pit  is  perforated  and  the 
water  impregnated  with  the  dust  from  the  bones  is  filtered 
through  charcoal  and  becomes  thoroughly  disinfected  be- 
fore it  is  allowed  to  pass  through  a  sewer  into  the  bay. 
The  pits  are  the  receptacles  of  the  dust  of  generations, 
and  I  am  told  that  so  much  of  it  is  drained  off  by  the 
rainfall,  as  described,  that  they  have  never  been  filled. 
The  carriers  are  not  allowed  to  leave  the  grounds,  and 
when  a  man  engages  in  that  occupation  he  must  retire 
forever  from  the  world,  as  much  as  if  he  were  a  Trappist 
monk.  Nor  can  he  communicate  with  anyone  except  the 
priests  who  have  charge  of  the  temple. 

The  grounds  are  beautifully  laid  out.  No  money  or 
labor  has  been  spared  to  make  them  attractive,  and  com- 
fortable benches  have  been  placed  along  the  walks  where 
relatives  and  friends  may  sit  and  converse  or  meditate 
after  the  ceremonies  are  concluded.  The  Parsees  are 
firm  believers  in  the  resurrection,  and  they  expect  their 
mutilated  bodies  to  rise  again  glorified  and  incorruptible. 
The  theory  upon  which  their  peculiar  custom  is  based  is 
veneration  for  the  elements.  Fire  is  the  chief  object  of 
their  worship,  and  they  cannot  allow  it  to  be  polluted  by 
burning  the  dead ;  water  is  almost  as  sacred,  and  the  soil 
of  the  earth  is  the  source  of  their  food,  their  strength  and 
almost  everything  that  is  beautiful.  Furthermore,  they 
believe  in  the  equality  of  all  creatures  before  God,  and 
hence  the  dust  of  the  rich  and  the  poor  mingles  in  the  pit. 

Parsee  temples  are  very  plain  and  the  form  of  worship 
is  extremely  simple.  None  but  members  of  the  faith  are 
admitted.  The  interior  of  the  temple  is  almost  empty,  ex- 
cept for  a  reading  desk  occupied  by  the  priest.  The  walls 
are   without    the    slightest    decoration    and    are    usually 


I04  MODERN  INDIA 

whitewashed.  The  sacred  fire,  the  emblem  of  spiritual 
life,  which  is  never  extinguished,  is  kept  in  a  small  recess 
in  a  golden  receptacle,  and  is  attended  by  priests  without 
interruption.  They  relieve  each  other  every  two  hours, 
but  the  fire  is  never  left  alone. 

The  Mohammedans  have  many  mosques  in  Bombay, 
but  none  of  them  is  of  particular  interest.  The  Hindu  or 
Brahmin  temples  are  also  commonplace,  with  two  excep- 
tions. One  of  them,  known  as  the  Monkey  Temple,  is 
covered  with  carved  images  of  monkeys  and  other  ani- 
mals. There  are  said  to  be  300  of  them,  measuring  from 
six  inches  to  two  feet  in  height.  The  other  is  the  "Walk- 
eshwar,"  dedicated  to  the  "Sand  Lord"  occupying  a  point 
upon  the  shore  of  the  bay  not  far  from  the  water.  It  has 
been  a  holy  place  for  many  centuries.  The  legend  says 
that  not  long  after  the  creation  of  the  world  Rama,  one 
of  the  most  powerful  of  the  gods,  while  on  his  way  to 
Ceylon  to  recover  Stia,  his  bride,  who  had  been  kidnaped, 
halted  and  camped  there  for  a  night  and  went  through 
various  experiences  which  make  a  long  and  tedious  story, 
but  of  profound  interest  to  Hindu  theologians  and  stu- 
dents of  mythology.  The  temple  is  about  150  years  old, 
but  does  not  compare  with  those  in  other  cities  of  India. 
It  is  surrounded  by  various  buildings  for  the  residence  of 
the  Brahmins,  lodging  places  for  pilgrims  and  devotees, 
which  are  considered  excellent  examples  of  Hindu  archi- 
tecture. Several  wealthy  families  have  cottages  on  the 
grounds  which  they  occupy  for  a  few  days  each  year  on 
festival  occasions  or  as  retreats. 

Upon  the  land  side  of  the  boulevard  which  skirts  the 
shore  of  the  bay,  not  far  from  the  university  of  Bombay, 
is  the  burning  ghat  of  the  Hindus,  where  the  bodies  of 
their  dead  are  cremated  in  the  open  air  and  in  a  remark- 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  105 

ably  rude  and  indifferent  manner.  The  proceedings  may 
be  witnessed  by  any  person  who  takes  the  trouble  to  visit 
the  place  and  has  the  patience  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  a 
body.  It  is  just  as  public  as  a  burial  in  any  cemetery  in 
the  United  States.  Bodies  are  kept  only  a  few  hours 
after  death.  Those  who  die  at  night  are  burned  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning,  so  that  curious  people  are  usually 
gratified  if  they  visit  the  place  early.  Immediately  after 
a  poor  Hindu  sufferer  breathes  his  last  the  family  retire 
and  professional  undertakers  are  brought  in.  The  latter 
bathe  the  body  carefully,  dress  it  in  plain  white  cotton 
cloth,  wrap  it  in  a  sheet,  with  the  head  carefully  con- 
cealed, place  it  upon  a  rude  bier  made  of  two  bamboo 
poles  and  cross  pieces,  with  a  net  work  of  ropes  between, 
and  four  men,  with  the  ends  of  the  poles  on  their 
shoulders,  start  for  the  burning  ghat  at  a  dog  trot,  sing- 
ing a  mournful  song.  Sometimes  they  are  followed  by 
the  sons  or  the  brothers  of  the  deceased,  who  remain 
through  the  burning  to  see  that  it  is  properly  done,  but 
more  often  that  duty  is  entrusted  to  an  employe  or  a  serv- 
ant or  some  humble  friend  of  the  family  in  whom  they 
have  confidence.  Arriving  at  the  burning  ghat,  negotia- 
tions are  opened  with  the  superintendent  or  manager,  for 
they  are  usually  private  enterprises  or  belong  to  corpora- 
tions and  are  conducted  very  much  like  our  cemeteries. 
The  cheapest  sort  of  fire  that  can  be  provided  costs  two 
rupees,  which  is  sixty-six  cents  in  American  money,  and 
prices  range  from  that  amount  upwards  according  to  the 
caste  and  the  wealth  of  the  family.  When  a  rich  man's 
body  is  burned  sandal-wood  and  other  scented  fuel  is 
used  and  sometimes  the  fire  is  very  expensive.  After  an 
agreement  is  reached  coolies  employed  on  the  place  make 
a  pile  of  wood,  one  layer  pointing  one  way  and  the  next 


io6  MODERN  INDIA 

crossed  at  right  angles,  a  hole  left  in  the  center  being 
filled  with  kindling  and  quick-burning  reeds.  The  body 
is  lifted  from  the  bier  and  placed  upon  it,  then  more  wood 
is  piled  on  and  the  kindling  is  lit  with  a  torch.  If  there  is 
plenty  of  dry  fuel  the  corpse  is  reduced  to  ashes  in  about 
two  hours.  Usually  the  ashes  are  claimed  by  friends, 
who  take  them  to  the  nearest  temple  and  after  prayers 
and  other  ceremonies  cast  them  into  the  waters  of  the 
bay. 

The  death  rate  in  Bombay  is  very  large.  The  bubonic 
plague  prevails  there  with  a  frightful  mortality.  Hence 
cremation  is  safer  than  burial.  In  the  province  of  Bom- 
bay the  total  deaths  from  all  diseases  average  about 
600,000  a  year,  and  you  can  calculate  what  an  enormous 
area  would  be  required  for  cemeteries.  In  1900,  on 
account  of  the  famine,  the  deaths  ran  up  to  1,318,783, 
and  in  1902  they  were  more  than  800,000.  Of  these  128,- 
259  were  from  the  plague,  13,600  from  cholera,  5,340 
from  smallpox,  and  2,212  from  other  contagious  diseases. 
Hence  the  burning  ghats  were  very  useful,  for  at  least 
80  percent  of  the  dead  were  Brahmins  and  their  bodies 
were  disposed  of  in  that  way. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  an  accurate  idea  of  Brahminism 
in  a  brief  manner,  but  theoretically  it  is  based  upon  the 
principles  set  forth  in  a  series  of  sacred  books  known  as 
the  Vedas,  written  about  4,000  years  ago.  Its  gods  were 
originally  physical  forces  and  phenomena — ^nature  wor- 
ship,— which  was  once  common  to  all  men,  the  sun,  fire, 
water,  light,  wind,  the  procreative  and  productive  ener- 
gies and  the  mystery  of  sex  and  birth,  which  impressed 
with  wonder  and  awe  the  mind  of  primitive  humanity. 
As  these  deities  became  more  and  more  vague  and  indef- 
inite in  the  popular  mind,  and  the  simple,  instinctive  ap- 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  107 

peal  of  the  human  soul  to  a  Power  it  could  not  see  or 
comprehend  was  gradually  debased  into  what  is  now 
known  as  Brahminism,  and  the  most  repugnant,  revolt- 
ing, cruel,  obscene  and  vicious  rites  ever  practiced  by  sav- 
ages or  barbarians.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Vedas  to  jus- 
tify the  cruelties  of  the  Hindu  gods  and  the  practices  of 
the  priests.  They  do  not  authorize  animal  worship,  caste, 
child-marriage ,  the  burning  of  widows  or  perpetual 
widowhood,  but  the  Brahmins  have  built  up  a  stupendous 
system  of  superstition,  of  which  they  alone  pretend  to 
know  the  mystic  meaning,  and  their  supremacy  is  estab- 
lished. Thus  the  nature  worship  of  the  Vedas  has  dis- 
appeared and  has  given  place  to  terrorism,  demon  wor- 
ship, obscenity,  and  idolatry. 

The  three  great  gods  of  the  Hindus  are  Siva,  Vishnu 
and  Brahma,  with  innumerable  minor  deities,  some  30,- 
000,000  altogether,  which  have  been  created  during  emer- 
gencies from  time  to  time  by  worshipers  of  vivid  imagin- 
ations. When  we  speak  of  Hinduism  or  Brahminism  as 
a  religion,  however,  it  is  only  a  conventional  use  of  a 
term,  because  it  is  not  a  religion  in  the  sense  that  we  are 
accustomed  to  apply  that  word.  In  all  other  creeds  there 
is  an  element  of  ethics ;  morality,  purity,  justice  and  faith 
in  men,  but  none  of  these  qualities  is  taught  by  the  Brah- 
mins. With  them  the  fear  of  unseen  powers  and  the 
desire  to  obtain  their  favor  is  the  only  rule  of  life  and  the 
only  maxim  taught  to  the  people.  And  it  is  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  the  influence  and  power  of  the  Brahmins 
depend.  The  world  and  all  its  inhabitants  are  at  the 
mercy  of  cruel,  fickle  and  unjust  gods ;  the  gods  are 
under  the  influence  of  the  Brahmins ;  hence  the  Brahmins 
are  holy  men  and  must  be  treated  accordingly.  No  Hindu 
will  offend  a  Brahmin  under  any  circumstances,  lest  his 


io8  MODERN  INDIA 

curse  may  call  down  all  forms  of  misfortune.  A  Hindu 
proverb  says : 

"What  is  in  the  Brahmin's  books,  that  is  in  the  Brah- 
min's heart.  Neither  you  nor  I  knew  there  was  so  much 
evil  in  the  world." 

The  power  of  the  priests  or  Brahmins  over  the  Hindus 
is  one  of  the  phenomena  of  India.  I  do  not  know  where 
you  can  get  a  better  idea  of  their  influence  and  of  the 
reverence  that  is  paid  to  them  than  in  "Kim,"  Rudyard 
Kipling's  story  of  an  Irish  boy  who  was  a  disciple  of  an 
old  Thibetan  lama  or  Buddhist  monk.  That  story  is  ap- 
preciated much  more  keenly  by  people  who  have  lived  or 
traveled  in  India,  because  it  appeals  to  them.  There  is  a 
familiar  picture  on  every  page,  and  it  is  particularly  val- 
uable as  illustrating  the  relations  between  the  Brahmins 
and  the  people.  "These  priests  are  invested,"  said  one  of 
the  ablest  writers  on  Indian  affairs,  "with  a  reverence 
which  no  extreme  of  abject  poverty,  no  infamy  of  private 
conduct  can  impair,  and  which  is  beyond  anything  that  a 
mind  not  immediately  conversant  with  the  fact  can  con- 
ceive. They  are  invariably  addressed  with  titles  of  divin- 
ity, and  are  paid  the  highest  earthly  honors.  The  oldest 
and  highest  members  of  other  castes  implore  the  blessing 
of  the  youngest  and  poorest  of  theirs ;  they  are  the  chosen 
recipients  of  all  charities,  and  are  allowed  a  license  in 
their  private  relations  which  would  be  resented  as  a  dead- 
ly injury  in  any  but  themselves." 

This  reverence  is  largely  due  to  superstitions  which  the 
Brahmins  do  their  best  to  cultivate  and  encourage. 
There  are  30,000,000  gods  in  the  Hindu  pantheon,  and 
each  attends  to  the  affairs  of  his  own  particular  jurisdic- 
tion. INIost  of  them  are  wicked,  cruel  and  unkind,  and  de- 
light in  bringing  misfortunes  upon  their  devotees,  which 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  109 

can  only  be  averted  by  the  intercession  of  a  priest.  Gods 
and  demons  haunt  every  hill  and  grove  and  gorge  and 
dark  corner.  Their  names  are  usually  unknown,  but  they 
go  on  multiplying  as  events  or  incidents  occur  to  which 
the  priests  can  give  a  supernatural  interpretation.  These 
gods  are  extremely  sensitive  to  disrespect  or  neglect,  and 
unless  they  are  constantly  propitiated  they  will  bring  all 
sorts  of  disasters.  The  Brahmin  is  the  only  man  Vv'ho 
knows  how  to  make  them  good-natured.  He  can  handle 
them  exactly  as  he  likes,  and  they  will  obey  his  will. 
Hence  the  superstitious  peasants  yield  everything,  their 
money,  their  virtue,  their  lives,  as  compensation  for  the 
intercession  of  the  priests  in  their  behalf. 

The  census  of  1901  returned  2,728,812  priests,  which 
is  an  average  of  one  for  every  seventy-two  members  of 
the  Hindu  faith,  and  it  is  believed  that,  altogether,  there 
are  more  than  9,000,000  persons  including  monks,  nuns, 
ascetics,  fakirs,  sorcerers,  chelas,  and  mendicants  or  va- 
rious kinds  and  attendants  employed  about  the  temples 
who  are  dependent  upon  the  public  for  support.  A  large 
part  of  the  income  of  the  pious  Hindu  is  devoted  to  the 
support  of  priests  and  the  feeding  of  pilgrims.  Wherever 
you  see  it,  wherever  you  meet  it,  and  especially  when  you 
come  in  contact  with  it  as  a  sightseer,  Brahminism  ex- 
cites nothing  but  pity,  indignation  and  abhorrence. 

Buddhism  is  very  different,  although  Buddha  lived  and 
died  a  Hindu,  and  the  members  of  that  sect  still  claim 
that  he  was  the  greatest,  the  wisest  and  the  best  of  all 
Brahmins.  No  two  religions  are  so  contradictory  and  in- 
compatible as  that  taught  by  Buddha  and  the  modern 
teachings  of  the  Brahmins.  The  underlying  principles  of 
Buddha's  faith  are  love,  charity,  self-sacrifice,  unselfish- 
ness, universal  brotherhood  and   spiritual  and  physical 


no  MODERN  INDIA 

purity.  He  believed  in  none  of  the  present  practices  of 
the  Hindu  priests.  There  is  a  striking  resemblance  be- 
tween the  teachings  of  Buddha  and  the  teachings  of 
Christ.  Passages  in  the  New  Testament,  reporting  the 
words  of  the  Savior,  seem  like  plagiarisms  from  the  max-- 
ims  of  Buddha,  and,  indeed,  Buddhist  scholars  tell  of  a 
myth  concerning  a  young  Jew  who  about  five  centuries 
after  Buddha,  and  twenty  centuries  ago,  came  from  Syria 
with  a  caravan  and  spent  several  years  under  instruction 
in  a  Buddhist  monastery  in  Thibet.  Thus  they  account 
for  the  silence  of  the  scriptures  concerning  the  doings  of 
Christ  between  the  ages  of  12  and  20,  and  for  the  similar- 
ity between  his  sermons  and  those  preached  by  the 
founder  of  their  religion.  Buddha  taught  that  good 
actions  bring  happiness  and  bad  actions  misery ;  that  sel- 
fishness is  the  cause  of  sin,  sorrow  and  suffering,  and  that 
the  abolition  of  self,  sacrifices  for  others  and  the  suppres- 
sion of  passions  and  desires  is  the  only  true  plan  of  salva- 
tion. He  died  543  years  before  Jesus  was  born,  and  with- 
in the  next  two  centuries  his  teachings  were  accepted  by 
two-thirds  of  the  people  of  India,  but  by  the  tenth  century 
of  our  era  they  had  been  forgotten,  and  a  great  trans- 
formation had  taken  place  among  the  Indo-Ayran  races, 
who  began  to  worship  demons  instead  of  angels  and  teach 
fear  instead  of  hope,  until  now  there  are  practically  no 
Buddhists  in  India  with  the  exception  of  the  Burmese, 
who  are  almost  unanimous  in  the  confession  of  that  faith. 
It  is  a  singular  phenomenon  that  Buddhism  should  so  dis- 
appear from  the  land  of  its  birth,  although  450,000,000 
of  the  human  race  still  turn  to  its  founder  with  pure 
affection  as  the  wisest  of  teachers  and  the  noblest  of 
ideals. 

The  teachings  of  Buddha  survive  in  a  sect  known  as 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  in 

the  Jains,  founded  by  Jina,  or  Mahavira,  a  Buddhist 
priest,  about  a  thousand  years  ago,  as  a  protest  against 
the  cruel  encroachments  of  the  Hindus.  Jina  was  a  Per- 
fect One,  who  subdued  all  worldly  desires ;  who  lived  an 
unselfish  life,  practiced  the  golden  rule,  harmed  no  living 
thing,  and  attained  the  highest  aim  of  the  soul,  right 
knowledge,  right  conduct,  temperance,  sobriety,  chastity 
and  a  Holy  Calm. 

There  are  now  1,334,148  Jains  in  India,  and  among 
them  are  the  wealthiest,  most  highly  cultured  and  most 
charitable  of  all  people.  They  carry  their  love  of  life  to 
extremes.  A  true  believer  will  not  harm  an  insect,  not 
even  a  mosquito  or  a  flea.  All  Hindus  are  kind  to  ani- 
mals, except  when  they  ill  treat  them  through  ignorance, 
as  is  often  the  case.  The  Brahmins  represent  that  mur- 
der, robbery,  deception  and  every  other  form  of  crime 
and  vice  may  be  committed  in  the  worship  of  their  gods. 
They  teach  that  the  gods  themselves  are  guilty  of  the 
most  hideous  depravity,  and  that  the  sacrifice  of  wives, 
children,  brothers,  sisters  and  friends  to  convenience  or 
expediency  for  selfish  ends  is  justifiable.  Indeed,  the 
British  government  has  been  compelled  to  interfere  and 
prohibit  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  to  propitiate  the  Hin- 
du gods.  It  has  suppressed  the  thugs,  who,  as  you  have 
read,  formerly  went  about  the  country  killing  people  in 
order  to  acquire  holiness ;  it  has  prohibited  the  awful  pro- 
cessions of  the  car  of  Juggernaut,  before  which  hyster- 
ical fanatics  used  to  throw  their  own  bodies,  and  the 
bodies  of  their  children,  to  be  crushed  under  the  iron 
wheels,  in  the  hope  of  pleasing  some  monster  among  their 
deities.  The  suppression  of  infanticide,  which  is  still  en- 
couraged by  the  Brahmins,  is  now  receiving  the  vigilant 
attention  of  the  authorities. 


112  MODERN  INDIA 

Every  effort  has  been  made  during  the  last  fifty  years 
to  prevent  the  awful  cruelties  to  human  beings  that  for- 
merly were  common  in  Hindu  worship,  but  no  police  in- 
tervention has  ever  been  necessary  to  protect  dumb  ani- 
mals ;  nobody  was  ever  punished  for  cruelty  to  them ;  on 
the  contrary,  animal  worship  is  one  of  the  most  general  of 
practices  among  the  Hindus,  and  many  beasts  and  rep- 
tiles are  sacred.  But  the  Jains  go  still  further  and  estab- 
lish hospitals  for  aged  and  infirm  animals.  You  can  see 
them  in  Bombay,  in  Delhi,  Lucknow,  Calcutta  and  other 
places  where  the  Jains  are  strong.  Behind  their  walls 
may  be  found  hundreds  of  decrepit  horses,  diseased  cows 
and  bullocks,  many  dogs  and  cats  and  every  kind  of  sick, 
lame  and  infirm  beast.  Absurd  stories  are  told  strangers 
concerning  the  extremes  to  which  this  benevolence  is  car- 
ried, and  some  of  them  have  actually  appeared  in  pub- 
lished narratives  of  travel  in  India.  One  popular  story  is 
that  when  a  flea  lights  upon  the  body  of  a  Jain  he  cap- 
tures it  carefully,  puts  it  in  a  receptacle  and  sends  it  to  an 
asylum  where  fat  coolies  are  hired  to  sit  around  all  day 
and  night  and  allow  fleas,  mosquitoes  and  other  insects  to 
feed  upon  them.  But  although  untrue,  these  ridiculous 
stories  are  valuable  as  illustrating  the  principles  in  which 
the  Jains  believe.  They  are  strict  vegetarians.  The  true 
believers  will  not  kill  an  animal  or  a  fish  or  a  bird,  or  any- 
thing that  breathes,  for  any  purpose,  and  everybody  can 
see  that  they  strictly  practice  what  they  preach. 

His  most  gracious  majesty,  King  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  and  Emperor  of  India,  has  more  Mohammedan 
subjects  than  the  Great  Turk  or  any  other  ruler.  They 
numbered  62,458,061  at  the  last  census.  They  are  a  clean, 
manly,  honorable  and  industrious  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion.    Commercially  they  do  not  rank  as  high  as  the  Par- 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  113 

sees,  who  number  only  94,190,  or  the  Jains,  who  number 
1,334,148,  but  are  vastly  superior  to  the  Hindus  from  any 
point  of  view.  They  are  not  so  ignorant  nor  so  filthy  nor 
so  superstitious  nor  so  submissive  to  their  priests.  They 
are  self-respecting  and  independent,  and  while  the  believ- 
ers in  no  other  creed  are  more  scrupulous  in  the  perform- 
ance of  their  religious  duties,  they  are  not  in  any  measure 
under  the  control  or  the  dictation  of  their  mullahs.  They 
have  their  own  schools,  called  kuttebs,  they  take  care  of 
their  own  poor  very  largely ;  drunkenness  and  gambHng 
are  very  rare  among  them.  They  are  hospitable,  kind  to 
animals  and  generous.  The  difference  between  the  Mo- 
hammedans and  the  Hindus  may  be  seen  in  the  most 
forcible  manner  in  their  temples.  It  is  an  old  saying  that 
while  one  god  created  all  men,  each  man  creates  his  own 
god,  and  that  is  strikingly  true  among  the  ignorant, 
superstitious  people  of  the  East.  The  Hindu  crouches  in 
a  shadow  to  escape  the  attention  of  his  god,  while  the  Mo- 
hammedan publicly  prays  to  his  five  times  a  day  in  the 
nearest  mosque,  and  if  no  mosque  is  near  he  kneels  where 
he  stands,  and  takes  full  satisfaction  in  a  religion  of  hope 
instead  of  fear. 

From  the  political  standpoint  the  Mohammedans  are  a 
very  important  factor  in  the  situation  in  India.  They  are 
more  independent  than  the  Hindus ;  they  occupy  a  more 
influential  position  than  their  numbers  entitle  them  to; 
they  have  most  profound  pride  in  their  religion  and  race, 
and  in  their  social  and  intellectual  superiority,  and  the 
more  highly  they  are  educated  the  more  manly,  self- 
reliant  and  independent  they  become,  and  the  feeling  be- 
tween the  Mohammedans  and  the  Hindus  is  bitterly 
hostile.  So  much  so  as  to  make  them  a  bulwark  of  the 
government.     Several  authorities  told  me  that  Moham- 


114  MODERN  INDIA 

medans  make  the  best  officials  in  the  service  and  can  be 
trusted  farther  than  any  other  class,  but,  speakinj^:  p^ener- 
ally,  Islam  has  been  corrupted  and  debased  in  India  just 
as  it  has  been  everywhere  else. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  corruption  is  the  sect  knowji 
as  Sikhs,  which  numbers  about  2,195,268.  It  thrives  best 
in  the  northern  part  of  India,  and  furnishes  the  most  re- 
liable policemen  and  the  best  soldiers  for  the  native  army. 
The  Sikhs  retain  much  that  is  good  among  the  teachings 
of  Mohammed,  but  have  a  bible  of  their  own,  called  the 
Abi-granth,  made  up  of  the  sermons  of  Nanak,  the 
founder  of  the  sect,  who  died  in  the  year  1530.  It  is  full 
of  excellent  moral  precepts  ;  it  teaches  the  brotherhood  of 
man,  the  equality  of  the  sexes ;  it  rejects  caste,  and  em- 
braces all  of  the  good  points  in  Buddhism,  with  a  panthe- 
ism that  is  very  confusing.  It  would  seem  that  the  Sikhs 
worship  all  gods  who  are  good  to  men,  and  reject  the  de- 
monology  of  the  Hindus.  They  believe  in  one  Supreme 
Being,  with  attributes  similar  to  the  Allah  of  the  Moham- 
medans, and  recognize  Mohammed  as  his  prophet  and  ex- 
ponent of  his  will.  They  have  also  adopted  several  Hin- 
du deities  in  a  sort  of  indirect  way,  although  the  Sikhs 
strictly  prohibit  idolatry.  Their  worship  is  pure  and  sim- 
ple. Their  temples  are  houses  of  prayer,  where  they, 
meet,  sing  hymns,  repeat  a  ritual  and  receive  pieces  of 
"karah  prasad,"  a  consecrated  pastry,  which  means  "the 
effectual  offering."  They  are  tolerant,  and  not  only  ad- 
mit strangers  to  their  worship,  but  invite  them  to  partici- 
pate in  their  communion. 

The  morning  we  arrived  in  Agra  we  swallowed  a  hasty 
breakfast  and  hurried  off  to  the  great  mosque  to  witness 
the  ceremonies  of  what  might  be  termed  the  Mohamme- 
dan Easter,  although  the  anniversary  has  an  entirely  dif- 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  115 

ferent  significance.  The  month  of  Ramadan  is  spent  by 
the  faithful  followers  of  the  Prophet  in  a  long  fast,  and 
the  night  before  it  is  broken,  called  Lailatul-Kadr,  or 
"night  of  power,"  is  celebrated  in  rejoicing,  because  it  is 
the  night  on  which  the  Koran  is  supposed  to  have  come 
down  from  heaven.  In  the  morning  following,  which  is 
as  much  a  day  of  rejoicing  as  our  Christmas,  the  men  of 
Islam  gather  at  the  mosques  and  engage  in  a  service  of 
thanksgiving  to  Allah  for  the  blessings  they  and  their 
families  have  enjoyed  during  the  year  past,  and  pray  for 
a  repetition  of  the  same  mercies  for  the  year  to  come. 
This  festival  is  called  the  "Idu  1-Fitr,"  and  we  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  witness  one  of  the  most  impressive 
spectacles  I  have  ever  seen.  Women  never  appear,  but 
the  entire  male  population,  with  their  children  assembled 
at  the  great  park  which  surrounds  the  mosque,  clad  in 
festival  attire,  each  bringing  a  prayer  rug  to  spread  upon 
the  ground.  About  ten  thousand  persons  of  all  ages  and 
all  classes  came  on  foot  and  in  all  sorts  of  vehicles,  with 
joyous  voices  and  congratulations  to  each  other  that 
seemed  hearty  enough  to  include  the  whole  world. 
Taking  advantage  of  their  good  humor  and  the  thankful 
spirits  hundreds  of  beggars  were  squatting  along  the 
roadside  and  appealing  to  every  passerby  in  pitiful  tones. 
And  nearly  every  one  responded.  Some  people  brought 
bags  of  rice,  beans  and  wheat ;  others  brought  cakes  and 
bread,  but  the  greater  number  invested  in  little  sea  shells 
which  are  used  in  the  interior  of  India  as  currency,  and 
one  hundred  of  them  are  worth  a  penny. 

Rich  people  filled  their  pockets  with  these  shells  and 
scattered  them  by  hands ful  among  the  crowd,  and  the 
shrieking  beggars  scrambled  for  them  on  the  ground. 
There  were  long  lines  of  food  peddlers,  with  portable 


ii6  MODERN  INDIA 

stoves,  and  tables  upon  which  were  spread  morsels  which 
the  natives  of  India  considered  delicacies,  but  they  were 
not  very  tempting  to  us.  The  food  peddlers  drove  a 
profitable  trade  because  almost  every  person  present  had 
been  fasting  for  a  lunar  month  and  had  a  sharp  appetite 
to  satisfy.  After  the  services  the  rich  and  the  poor  ate 
together,  masters  and  servants,  because  Mohammed 
knew  no  caste,  and  it  was  an  interesting  sight  to  see  the 
democratic  spirit  of  the  worshipers,  for  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  the  master  and  the  servant,  knelt  down  side  by  side 
upon  the  same  rug  or  strip  of  matting  and  bowed  their 
heads  to  the  ground  in  homage  of  the  God  that  made 
them  all.  Families  came  together  in  carriages,  bullock 
carts,  on  the  backs  of  camels,  horses,  mules,  donkeys,  all 
the  male  members  of  the  household  from  the  baby  to  the 
grandfather,  and  were  attended  by  all  men  servants  of  the 
family  or  the  farm.  They  washed  together  at  the  basins 
where  the  fountains  were  spouting  more  joyously  than 
usual,  and  then  moved  forward,  laughing  and  chattering, 
toward 'the  great  mosque,  selected  places  which  seemed 
most  convenient,  spread  their  rugs,  matting,  blankets  and 
sheets  upon  the  ground,  sat  in  long  rows  facing  Mecca, 
and  gossiped  cheerfully  together  until  the  great  high 
priest,  surrounded  by  mullahs  or  lower  priests,  appeared 
in  front  of  the  Midrab,  the  place  in  every  mosque  from 
which  the  Koran  is  read,  and  shouted  for  attention. 

Ram  Zon,  one  of  our  "bearers,"  who  is  a  Mohammedan, 
disappeared  without  permission  or  notice  early  in  the 
morning,  and  did  not  report  for  duty  that  day.  His 
piety  was  greater  than  his  sense  of  obligation  to  his  em- 
ployers, and  I  saw  him  in  the  crowd  earnestly  going 
through  the  violent  exercise  which  attends  the  worship 
of  Islam. 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  117 

When  the  hour  for  commencing  the  ceremony  drew 
near  the  entire  courtyard,  several  acres  in  extent,  was 
covered  with  worshipers  arranged  in  rows  about  eight 
feet  apart  from  north  to  south,  all  facing  the  west,  with 
their  eyes  toward  Mecca  in  expectant  attitudes.  The 
sheikh  has  a  powerful  voice,  and  by  long  experience  has 
acquired  the  faculty  of  throwing  it  a  long  distance,  and, 
as  he  intoned  the  service,  mullahs  were  stationed  at  dif- 
ferent points  to  repeat  his  words  so  that  everybody  could 
hear.  The  first  sound  was  a  long  wailing  cry  like  the  call 
of  the  muezzeins  from  the  minarets  at  the  hour  of  prayer. 
It  was  for  the  purpose  of  concentrating  the  attention  of 
the  vast  audience  which  arose  to  its  feet  and  stood  mo- 
tionless with  hands  clasped  across  their  breasts.  Then, 
as  the  reading  proceeded,  the  great  crowd,  in  perfect  uni- 
son, as  if  it  had  practiced  daily  for  months,  performed  the 
same  motions  one  after  the  other.  It  was  a  remarkable 
exhibition  of  precision.  No  army  of  well  drilled  troops 
could  have  done  better. 

The  following  were  the  motions,  each  in  response  to 
the  intonation  of  a  prayer  by  the  high  priest : 

1.  Both  hands  to  forehead,  palms  and  fingers  together, 
in  the  attitude  of  prayer. 

2.  Bend  body  forward  at  right  angles,  three  times  in 
succession,  keeping  hands  in  the  same  position. 

3.  Return  to  upright  position,  with  hands  lowered  to 
the  breast. 

4.  Bow  head  three  times  to  the  ground. 

5.  Rise  and  stand  motionless  with  hands  at  sides. 

6.  Hands  lifted  to  ears  and  returned  to  side,  motions 
three  times  repeated. 

7.  Body  at  right  angles  again,  with  hands  clasped  at 
forehead. 


ii8  MODERN  INDIA 

8.  Body  erect,  kneel  and  bow  forward,  touching  the 
forehead  three  times  to  the  earth. 

9.  Fall  back  upon  knees  and  with  folded  hands. 

10.  Rise,  stand  at  attention  with  clasped  hands  until 
the  cry  of  the  mullah  announced  that  the  ceremony  was 
over ;  whereupon  everybody  turned  to  embrace  his  family 
and  friends  in  a  most  affectionate  manner,  again  and 
again.  Some  were  crying,  some  were  laughing,  and  all 
seemed  to  be  in  a  state  of  suppressed  excitement.  Their 
emotions  had  been  deeply  stirred,  and  long  fasting  is  apt 
to  produce  hysteria. 

The  boom  of  a  cannon  in  a  neighboring  fortress,  was  a 
signal  that  the  obligations  of  Ramadan  had  been  ful- 
filled, that  the  fast  was  broken,  and  thousands  of  people 
rushed  pell-mell  to  the  eating  stands  to  gorge  themselves 
with  sweetmeats  and  other  food.  The  more  dignified  and 
aristocratic  portion  of  the  crowd  calmly  sat  down  again 
upon  their  rugs  and  mats  and  watched  their  servants  un- 
load baskets  of  provisions  upon  tablecloths,  napkins  and 
trays  which  they  spread  upon  the  ground.  Not  less  than 
seven  or  eight  thousand  persons  indulged  in  this  picnic, 
but  there  was  no  wine  or  beer ;  nothing  stronger  than  tea 
or  coffee,  because  the  Koran  forbids  it.  And  after  their 
feast  at  the  mosque  the  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  re- 
joicing. Gay  banners  of  all  colors  were  displayed  from 
the  windows  of  Mohammedan  houses,  festoons  of  flowers 
were  hung  over  the  doors,  and  from  the  windowsills ; 
boys  were  seen  rushing  through  the  streets  loaded  with 
bouquets  sent  from  friend  to  friend  with  compliments  and 
congratulations ;  firecrackers  were  exploded  in  the  gar- 
dens and  parks,  and  during  the  evening  displays  of  fire- 
works were  made  to  entertain  the  Moslem  population, 
who  were  assembled  in  each  other's  houses  or  at  their 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA  119 

favorite  cafes,  or  were  promenading  the  streets,  singing 
and  shouting  and  behaving  very  much  as  our  people  do 
on  the  Fourth  of  July. 


VII 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED 

The  present  form  of  government  in  India  was  adopted 
in  1858,  after  the  terrible  Sepoy  mutiny  had  demonstrated 
the  inabihty  of  the  East  India  Company  to  control  affairs. 
By  an  act  of  parliament  all  territory,  revenues,  tributes 
and  property  of  that  great  corporation,  which  had  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Indian  trade,  and,  next  to  the  Hanseatic 
League  of  Germany,  was  the  greatest  Trust  ever  formed, 
were  vested  in  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
who  in  1876  assumed  the  additional  title  of  Empress  of 
India.  The  title  and  authority  were  inherited  by  Ed- 
ward VII.  He  governs  through  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  India,  who  is  a  Cabinet  minister,  and  a  Council  of  not 
less  than  ten  members,  nine  of  whom  must  have  the  prac- 
tical knowledge  and  experience  gained  by  a  residence  of 
at  least  ten  years  in  India  and  not  more  than  ten  years 
previous  to  the  date  of  their  appointment.  This  Council 
is  more  of  an  advisory  than  an  executive  body.  It  has  no 
initiative  or  authority,  but  is  expected  to  confer  with  and 
review  the  acts  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India,  who 
can  make  no  grants  or  appropriations  from  the  revenues 
or  decide  any  questions  of  importance  without  the  con- 
currence of  a  majority  of  its  members.  The  Council 
meets  every  week  in  London,  receives  reports  and  com- 
munications and  acts  upon  them. 

The  supreme  authority  in   India  is  the  Viceroy,  the 

120 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  121 

direct  personal  representative  of  the  emperor  in  all  his 
relations  with  his  300,000,000  Indian  subjects;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  convenience,  he  makes  his  reports  to  and  re- 
ceives his  instructions  from  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
India,  who  represents  that  part  of  the  empire  both  in  the 
ministry  and  in  parliament.  The  present  viceroy  is  the 
Right  Honorable  George  Nathaniel  Curzon,  who  was 
raised  to  the  peerage  in  October,  1898,  as  Baron  Curzon 
of  Kedleston.  He  is  the  eldest  son  of  Lord  Scarsdale, 
was  born  Jan.  11,  1859,  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Ox- 
ford ;  selected  journalism  as  his  profession ;  became  cor- 
respondent of  the  London  Times  in  China,  India  and 
Persia ;  was  elected  to  parliament  from  Lancashire  in 
1886,  and  served  until  1898;  was  private  secretary  to  the 
Marquis  of  Salisbury,  and  under-secretary  of  state  for 
India  in  1891-92 ;  under-secretary  of  state  for  foreign 
affairs  in  1895-98;  married  Mary  Leiter,  daughter  of  Mr., 
L.  Z.  Leiter  of  Washington  and  Chicago,  in  1895,  and 
was  appointed  viceroy  of  India  to  succeed  the  Earl  of 
Elgin,  September,  1898. 

There  have  been  twenty-five  viceroys  or  governors 
general  of  India  since  Warren  Hastings  in  1774,  and  the 
list  includes  some  of  the  ablest  statesmen  in  English  his- 
tory, but  Lord  Curzon  is  the  only  man  in  the  list  who  has 
ever  been  his  own  successor.  When  his  first  term  ex- 
pired in  September,  1903,  he  was  immediately  reap- 
pointed for  another  five  years.  Whether  he  continues 
through  the  second  term  depends  upon  certain  contingen- 
cies, but  it  is  entirely  probable  that  he  will  remain,  be- 
cause he  has  undertaken  certain  reforms  and  enterprises 
that  he  desires  to  complete.  His  administration  has  been 
not  only  a  conspicuous  but  a  remarkable  success.  Al- 
though he  has  been  severely  criticised  for  his  administra- 


122  MODERN  INDIA 

tivc  policy  and  many  of  his  official  acts  have  been  opposed 
and  condemned,  the  sources  from  which  the  criticisms 
have  come  often  corroborate  the  wisdom  and  confirm  the 
success  of  the  acts  complained  of.  Lord  Cornwallis  was 
twice  Governor  General  of  India,  but  there  was  a  long 
interval  between  his  terms,  the  first  beginning  in  1786 
and  the  second  in  1805.  He  is  the  only  man  except  Lord 
Curzon  who  has  been  twice  honored  by  appointment  to 
the  highest  office  and  the  greatest  responsibility  under 
the  British  crown  except  that  of  the  prime  minister. 

The  Viceroy  is  assisted  in  the  administration  of  the 
government  by  a  cabinet  or  council  of  five  members,  se- 
lected by  himself,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  king. 
Each  member  is  assigned  to  the  supervision  of  one  of  the 
executive  departments, — finance,  military,  public  works, 
revenue,  agriculture  and  legislative.  The  viceroy  himself 
takes  personal  charge  of  foreign  affairs.  The  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  army  in  India,  at  present  Lord 
Kitchener,  is  ex-officio  member  of  the  council. 

For  legislative  purposes  the  council  is  expanded  by  the 
addition  of  ten  members,  appointed  by  the  Viceroy  from 
among  the  most  competent  British  and  native  residents  of 
India  upon  the  recommendation  of  provincial,  industrial 
and  commercial  bodies.  The  remaining  members  are  the 
heads  of  the  various  executive  departments  of  the  gov- 
ernment. By  these  men,  who  serve  for  a  period  of  five 
years,  and  whose  proceedings  are  open  to  the  public  and 
are  reported  and  printed  verbatim,  like  the  proceedings 
of  Congress,  the  laws  governing  India  are  made,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  Viceroy,  who  retains  the  right  of 
veto,  and  in  turn  is  responsible  to  the  British  parliament 
and  to  the  king. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  system  of  government  in 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  123 

India  is  simple  and  liberal.  The  various  industries  and 
financial  interests,  and  all  of  the  great  provinces  which 
make  up  the  empire,  have  a  voice  in  framing  the  laws 
that  apply  to  the  people  at  large ;  but  for  convenience  the 
territory  is  divided  into  nine  great  provinces,  as  follows : 

Madras,  with  a  governor  whose  salary  is  $40,000  a 
year. 

Bombay,  whose  governor  receives  the  same  salary. 

Bengal,  with  a  lieutenant  governor ;  salary,  $33,000. 

United  Provinces,  lieutenant  governor ;  salary,  $33,000. 

Punjab,  lieutenant  governor ;  salary,  $33,000. 

Burma,  lieutenant  governor ;  salary,  $33,000. 

Assam,  chief  commissioner ;  salary,  $16,500. 

Central  Provinces,  chief  commissioner,  $16,500. 

Northwestern  Frontier  Province,  governed  by  an  agent 
to  the  governor  general,  whose  salary  is  $16,500. 

The  governors  of  Bombay  and  Madras  are  appointed 
by  the  king;  the  lieutenant  governors  and  commissioners 
by  the  Viceroy.  All  of  them  have  legislative  councils 
and  complete  executive  organizations  similar  to  that  of 
the  general  government  at  Calcutta.  Each  makes  its  own 
local  laws  and  enjoys  administrative  independence  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  the  states  of  the  American  Union,  and  is 
seldom  interfered  with  by  the  Viceroy  or  the  authorities 
in  London,  the  purpose  being  to  encourage  home  rule  as 
far  as  possible.  The  provinces  are  divided  into  districts, 
which  are  the  units  of  administration,  and  each  district  is 
under  the  control  of  an  executive  officer,  who  is  respons- 
ible to  the  governor  of  the  province. 

Exclusive  of  the  great  provinces  named  are  eighty-two 
of  the  ancient  principalities,  most  of  them  retaining  their 
original  boundaries,  governed  by  native  chiefs,  who  are 
allowed  more  or  less  independence,  according  to  their 


124  MODERN  INDIA 

ability,  wisdom  and  zeal.  The  control  exercised  by  the 
central  government  varies  in  the  different  states,  but 
there  arc  certain  general  rules  which  are  applied  to  all. 
The  native  princes  have  no  right  to  make  war  or  peace,  or 
communicate  officially  with  each  other  or  with  foreign 
governments  except  through  the  Viceroy.  They  are  per- 
mitted to  maintain  a  limited  independent  military  force ; 
they  are  allowed  to  impose  a  certain  amount  of  taxes ;  no 
European  is  allowed  to  reside  at  their  courts  without 
their  consent,  but  commerce,  trade,  industry,  education, 
religious  worship,  the  press  and  other  rights  and  privi- 
leges are  free  to  all  just  as  much  as  in  England  or  the 
United  States.  The  native  chiefs  are  not  permitted  to  in- 
terfere with  the  judiciary,  which  has  a  separate  and  in- 
dependent organization,  as  in  Great  Britain,  with  the 
Viceroy  and  the  council  of  state  corresponding  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  as  the  highest  court  of  appeal.  Each 
native  chief  is  "assisted"  in  his  government  by  a  "Res- 
ident," who  is  appointed  by  and  reports  to  the  Viceroy, 
and  is  expected  to  guide  the  policy  and  official  acts  of  the 
native  ruler  with  tact  and  delicacy.  He  remains  in  the 
background  as  much  as  possible,  assumes  no  authority 
and  exercises  no  prerogatives,  but  serves  as  a  sort  of  am- 
bassador from  the  Viceroy  and  friendly  adviser  to  the 
native  prince. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  ruling  native  princes  in 
the  order  of  their  rank  as  recognized  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment, and  the  salutes  to  which  they  are  entitled : 

Salute  of  twenty-one  guns — 

Baroda,  the  Maharaja  (Gaikwar)  of. 
Hyderabad,  the  Nizam  of. 
Mysore,  the  Maharaja  of. 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  125 

Salute  of  nineteen  guns — 

Bhopal,  the  Begam  (or  Newab)  of. 
Gwalior,  the  Maharaja  (Singhai)  of. 
Indore,  the  Maharaja  (Holkar)  of. 
Jammu  and  Kashmire,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Kalat,  the  Khan  of. 
Kolhapur,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Mewar  (Udaipur),  the  Maharaja  of. 
Travancore,  the  Maharaja  of. 

Sakite  of  seventeen  guns — 
Bahawalpur,  the  Navvab  of. 
Bharatpur,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Bikanir,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Bundi,  the  Maharao  Raja  of. 
Cochin,  the  Raja  of. 
Cutch,  the  Rao  of. 
Jeypore,  the  Maharaja  of. 
KarauH,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Kota,  the  Maharao  of. 
Marwar  (Jodhpur),  the  Maharaja  of. 
Patiala,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Rewa,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Tonk,  the  Newab  of. 

Salute  of  fifteen  guns — 
Alwar,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Banswara,  the  Maharawal  of. 
Datia,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Dewas  (senior  branch),  the  Raja  of. 
Dewas  (junior  branch),  the  Raja  of. 
Dhar,  the  Raja  of. 
Dholpur,  the  Maharaja  Rana  of. 
Dungarpur,  the  Maharawal  of. 


126  MODERN  INDIA 

Idar,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Jaisalmir,  the  Maharawal  of. 
Khairpur,  the  Mir  of. 
Kishangarh,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Orchha,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Partabgarth,  the  Marharawat  of. 
Sikkam,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Sirohi,  the  Maharao  of. 

Salute  of  thirteen  guns- 
Benares,  the  Raja  of. 
Cooch  Behar,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Jaora,  the  Nawab  of. 
Rampur,  the  Newab  of. 
Tippera,  the  Raja  of. 

Salute  of  eleven  guns— 
Agaigarh,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Baoni,  the  Newab  of. 
Bhaunagar,  the  Thakur  Sahib  of. 
Bijawar,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Cambay,  the  Nawab  of. 
Chamba,  the  Raja  of. 
Charkhari,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Chhatarpur,  the  Raja  of. 
Faridkot,  the  Raja  of. 
Gondal,  the  Thakur  Sahib  of. 
Janjira,  the  Newab  of. 
Jhabua,  the  Raja  of. 
Jahllawar,  the  Raj-Rana  of. 
Jind,  the  Raja  of. 
Gunagarth,  the  Newab  of. 
Kahlur,  the  Rajah  of. 
Kapurthala,  the  Raja  of. 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  127 

Mandi,  the  Raja  of. 
Manipur,  the  Raja  of. 
Morvi,  the  Thakiir  Sahib  of. 
Nabha,  the  Raja  of. 
Narsingarh,  the  Raja  of. 
Nawanagar,  the  Jam  of. 
Palanpur,  the  Diwan  of. 
Panna,  the  Maharaja  of. 
Porbandar,  the  Rana  of. 
Pudukota,  the  Raja  of. 
Radhanpiir,  the  Newab  of. 
Rajgarth,  the  Raja  of. 
Rajpipla,  the  Raja  of. 
Ratlam,  the  Raja  of. 
Sailana,  the  Raja  of. 
Samthar,  the  Raja  of. 
Sirmur  (Nahan),  the  Raja  of. 
Sitamau,  the  Raja  of. 
Suket,  the  Raja  of. 
Tehri  (Garhwal),  the  Raja  of. 

The  Viceroy  has  a  veto  over  the  acts  of  the  native 
princes  as  he  has  over  those  of  the  provincial  governors, 
and  can  depose  them  at  will,  but  such  heroic  measures  are 
not  adopted  except  in  extreme  cases  of  bad  behavior  or 
misgovernment.  Lord  Curzon  has  deposed  two  rajahs 
during  the  five  years  he  has  been  Viceroy,  but  his  gen- 
eral policy  has  been  to  stimulate  their  ambitions,  to  in- 
duce them  to  adopt  modern  ideas  and  methods  and  to 
educate  their  people. 

Within  the  districts  are  municipalities  which  have  local 
magistrates  and  councils,  commissioners,  district  and 
local  boards  and  other  bodies  for  various  purposes  sim- 


128  MODERN  INDIA 

ilar  to  those  of  our  county  ami  city  orgjanizations.  The 
elective  franchise  is  being  extended  in  more  or  less  de- 
gree, according  to  circumstances,  all  over  India,  suffrage 
being  conferred  upon  taxpayers  only.  The  municipal 
boards  have  care  of  the  roads,  water  supply,  sewerage,- 
sanitation,  public  lighting,  markets,  schools,  hospitals  and 
other  institutions  and  enterprises  of  public  utility.  They 
impose  taxes,  collect  revenues  and  expend  them  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  provincial  governments.  In  all  of  the 
large  cities  a  number  of  Englishmen  and  other  foreigners 
are  members  of  boards  and  committees  and  take  an  active 
part  in  local  administration,  but  in  the  smaller  towns  and 
villages  the  government  is  left  entirely  to  natives,  who 
often  show  conspicuous  capacity. 

The  policy  of  Lord  Curzon  has  been  to  extend  home 
rule  and  self-government  as  rapidly  and  as  far  as  circum- 
stances will  justify.  The  population  of  India  is  a  dense, 
inert,  ignorant,  depraved  and  superstitious  mass  of  beings 
whose  actions  are  almost  entirely  controlled  by  signs  and 
omens,  and  by  the  dictation  of  the  Brahmin  priests.  They 
are  therefore  not  to  be  trusted  with  the  control  of  their 
own  affairs,  but  there  is  a  gradual  and  perceptible  im- 
provement in  their  condition,  which  is  encouraged  by  the 
authorities  in  every  possible  way.  And  as  fast  as  they 
show  themselves  competent  they  are  trusted  with  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  welfare  of  themselves  and  their  neigh- 
bors. The  habitual  attitude  of  the  Hindu  is  crouching 
upon  the  ground.  The  British  government  is  trying  to 
raise  him  to  a  standing  posture,  to  make  him  a  man  in- 
stead of  the  slave  of  his  superstitions. 

No  one  can  visit  India,  no  one  can  read  its  history  or 
study  its  statistics,  without  admitting  the  success  and 
recognizing   the   blessings   of   British   occupation.      The 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  129 

government  has  had  its  ups  and  downs.  There  have  been 
terrible  bkinders  and  criminal  mistakes,  which  we  are 
in  danger  of  repeating  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  the 
record  of  British  rule  during  the  last  half-century — since 
the  Sepoy  mutiny,  which  taught  a  valuable  lesson  at  an 
awful  cost — ^has  been  an  almost  uninterrupted  and  un- 
broken chapter  of  peace,  progress  and  good  government. 
Until  then  the  whole  of  India  never  submitted  to  a  single 
ruler.  For  nearly  a  thousand  years  it  was  a  perpetual 
battlefield,  and  not  since  the  invasion  of  Alexander  the 
Great  have  the  people  enjoyed  such  liberty  or  tranquillity 
as  they  do  today.  Three-eighths  of  the  country  still 
remains  under  the  authority  of  hereditary  native  rulers 
with  various  degrees  of  independence.  Foreigners  have 
very  little  conception  of  the  extent  and  the  power  of  the 
native  government.  We  have  an  indefinable  impression 
that  the  rajah  is  a  sensuous,  indolent,  extravagant  sybarite, 
given  to  polo,  diamonds  and  dancing  girls,  and  amputates 
the  heads  of  his  subjects  at  pleasure ;  but  that  is  very  far 
from  the  truth.  Many  of  the  princes  in  the  list  just 
given,  are  men  of  high  character,  culture  and  integrity, 
who  exercise  a  wise,  just  and  patriarchal  authority  over 
their  subjects.  Seventeen  of  the  rajputs  (rashpootes,  it 
is  pronounced)  represent  the  purest  and  bluest  Hindu 
blood,  for  they  are  descended  from  Rama,  the  hero  of 
the  Ramayama,  the  great  Hindu  poem,  who  is  generally 
worshiped  as  an  incarnation  of  the  god  Bishnu  ;  and  their 
subjects  are  all  their  kinsmen,  descended  from  the  same 
ancestors,  members  of  the  same  family,  and  are  treated 
as  such.  Other  rajahs  have  a  relationship  even  more 
clannish  and  close,  and  most  of  them  are  the  descendants 
of  long  lines  of  ancestors  who  have  occupied  the  same 
throne  and  exercised  the  same  power  over  the  same  people 


I30  MODERN  INDIA 

from  the  beginninjir  <^f  history.  None  of  the  royal  fam- 
ihes  of  Europe  can  compare  with  them  in  length  of  pedi- 
gree or  the  dimensions  of  their  family  trees,  and  while 
there  have  been  bad  men  as  well  as  good  men  in  the  lists 
of  native  rulers;  while  the  people  have  been  crushed  by 
tyranny,  ruined  by  extravagance  and  tortured  by  the 
cruelty  of  their  masters,  the  rajahs  of  India  have  aver- 
aged quite  as  high  as  the  feudal  lords  of  Germany  or  the 
dukes  and  earls  of  England  in  ability  and  morality. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  Lord  Curzon  since  he  has  been 
Viceroy  to  extend  the  power  and  increase  the  responsibil- 
ity of  the  native  princes  as  much  as  possible,  and  to  give 
India  the  largest  measure  of  home  rule  that  circum- 
stances and  conditions  will  allow.  Not  long  ago,  at  the 
investiture  of  the  Nawab  of  Bahawalpur,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  of  his  father,  the  Viceroy  gave  a 
distinct  definition  of  the  relationship  between  the  native 
princes  and  the  British  crown. 

"It  is  scarcely  possible,"  he  said,  "to  imagine  circum- 
stances more  different  than  those  of  the  Indian  chiefs 
now  and  wdiat  they  were  at  the  time  Queen  Victoria  came 
to  the  throne.  Now  their  sympathies  have  expanded  with 
their  knowledge  and  their  sense  of  responsibility ;  with 
the  degree  of  confidence  reposed  in  them.  They  recog- 
nize their  obligations  to  their  own  states  and  their  duty 
to  the  imperial  throne.  The  British  crown  is  no  longer 
an  impersonal  abstraction,  but  a  concrete  and  inspiring 
force.  The  political  system  of  India  is  neither  feudalism 
nor  federation.  It  is  embodied  in  no  constitution ;  it  does 
not  rest  upon  treaty,  and  it  bears  no  resemblance  to  a 
league.  It  represents  a  series  of  relationships  that  have 
grown  up  between  the  crown  and  Indian  princes  under 
widely  different  historical  conditions,  but  which  in  pro- 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  131 

cess  of  time  have  gradually  conformed  to  a  single  type. 
The  sovereignty  of  the  crown  is  everywhere  unchal- 
lenged. Conversely,  the  duties  and  the  services  of  the 
state  are  implicitly  recognized,  and,  as  a  rule,  faithfully 
discharged.  It  is  this  happy  blend  of  authority  with  free 
will,  of  sentiment  with  self-interest,  of  duties  with  rights, 
that  distinguishes  the  Indian  Empire  under  the  British 
crown  from  any  other  dominion  of  which  we  read  in  his- 
tory. The  princes  have  gained  prestige  instead  of  losing 
it.  Their  rank  is  not  diminished,  and  their  privileges 
have  become  more  secure.  They  have  to  do  more  for  the 
protection  they  enjoy,  but  they  also  derive  more  from  it ; 
for  they  are  no  longer  detached  appendages  of  empire, 
but  its  participators  and  instruments.  They  have  ceased 
to  be  architectural  adornments  of  the  imperial  edifice,  and 
have  become  the  pillars  that  help  to  sustain  the  main 
roof." 

At  the  same  time  Lord  Curzon  has  kept  a  tight  rein 
upon  the  rajahs  and  maharajas  lest  they  forget  the  au- 
thority that  stands  behind  them.  He  does  not  allow  them 
to  spend  the  taxes  of  the  people  for  jewels  or  waste  it  in 
riotous  living,  and  has  the  right  to  depose  any  of  them 
for  crime,  disloyalty,  misgovernment  or  any  other  cause 
he  deems  sufficient.  The  supreme  authority  of  the  Brit- 
ish government  has  become  a  fact  which  no  native  state 
or  ruler  would  for  a  moment  think  of  disputing  or  doubt- 
ing. No  native  chief  fails  to  understand  that  his  conduct 
is  under  scrutiny,  and  that  if  he  committed  a  crime  he 
would  be  tried  and  punished  by  the  courts  as  promptly 
and  as  impartially  as  the  humblest  of  his  subjects.  At 
the  same  time  they  feel  secure  in  their  authority  and  in 
the  exercise  of  their  religion,  and  when  a  native  prince 
has  no  direct  heir  he  has  the  right  to  select  his  successor 


132  MODERN  INDIA 

by  adoption.  He  may  choose  any  child  or  young  man 
among  his  subjects  and  if  the  person  selected  is  of  sound 
mind  and  respectable  character,  the  choice  is  promptly 
ratified  by  the  central  government.  There  is  no  interfer- 
ence with  the  exercise  of  authority  or  the  transaction  of 
business  unless  the  welfare  of  the  people  plainly  requires 
it,  and  in  such  cases,  the  intervention  has  been  swift  and 
sure. 

During  the  five  years  that  he  has  been  Viceroy,  Lord 
Curzon  has  deposed  two  native  rulers.  One  of  them  was 
the  Rajah  of  Bhartpur,  a  state  well-known  in  the  his- 
tory of  India  by  its  long  successful  resistance  of  the  Brit- 
ish treaty.  In  1900  the  native  prince,  a  man  of  intem- 
perate habits  and  violent  passions,  beat  to  death  one  of  his 
personal  servants  who  angered  him  by  failing  to  obey 
orders  to  his  satisfaction.  It  was  not  the  first  oflfense,  but 
it  was  the  most  flagrant  and  the  only  one  that  was  ever 
brought  officially  to  the  attention  of  the  government. 
His  behavior  had  been  the  subject  of  comment  and  the 
cause  of  scandal  for  several  years,  and  he  had  received 
frequent  warnings.  Hence,  when  the  brutal  murder  of 
his  servant  was  reported  at  the  government  house.  Lord 
Curzon  immediately  ordered  his  arrest  and  trial.  He  was 
convicted,  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  deprived 
of  all  his  titles  and  authority,  and  his  infant  son  was  se- 
lected as  his  successor.  During  the  minority  of  the  young 
prince  the  government  will  be  administered  by  native  re- 
gents under  British  supervision. 

In  1 90 1  the  uncle  of  the  Maharaja  of  Panna  died  under 
mysterious  circumstances.  An  investigation  ordered  by 
Lord  Curzon  developed  unmistakable  evidence  that  he 
had  been  deliberately  poisoned.  The  rajah  was  sus- 
pended from  power,  was  tried  and  convicted  of  the  crime. 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  133 

and  in  April,  1902,  was  deposed,  deprived  of  all  honors 
and  power  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  while 
one  of  his  subordinates  who  had  actually  committed  the 
crime  by  his  orders  was  condemned  to  death. 

In  January,  1903,  the  Maharaja  of  Indore,  after  testify- 
ing to  his  loyalty  to  the  British  crown  by  attending  the 
durbar  at  Delhi,  and  after  due  notice  to  the  viceroy,  abdi- 
cated power  in  favor  of  his  son,  a  boy  12  years  old.  The 
step  was  approved  by  Lord  Curzon  for  reasons  too  many 
and  complicated  to  be  repeated  here.  During  the  minor- 
ity of  the  young  man  the  government  will  be  conducted 
by  native  ministers  under  British  supervision,  and  the 
boy  will  be  trained  and  educated  with  the  greatest  care. 

In  1894  the  Maharaja  of  Mysore  died,  leaving  as  his 
heir  an  infant  son,  and  it  became  necessary  for  the 
viceroy  to  appoint  a  regent  to  govern  the  province  during 
his  minority.  The  choice  fell  upon  the  boy's  mother,  a 
woman  of  great  ability  and  intelligence,  who  justified  the 
confidence  reposed  in  her  by  administering  the  affairs  of 
the  government  with  great  intelligence  and  dignity.  She 
won  the  admiration  of  every  person  familiar  with  the 
facts.  She  gave  her  son  a  careful  English  education 
and  a  few  months  ago  retired  in  his  favor. 

In  several  cases  the  privilege  of  adoption  has  been 
exercised  by  the  ruling  chief,  and  thus  far  has  been  con- 
firmed by  the  British  authority  in  every  case. 

There  are  four  colleges  in  India  exclusively  for  the 
education  of  native  princes,  which  are  necessary  in  that 
country  because  of  the  laws  of  caste.  It  is  considered  al- 
together better  for  a  young  prince  to  be  sent  to  an  Eng- 
lish school  and  university,  or  to  one  of  the  continental 
institutions,  where  he  can  learn  something  of  the  world 
and  come  into  direct  association  with  young  men  of  his 


134  MODERN  INDIA 

own  age  from  other  countries,  but,  in  many  cases,  this  is 
impracticable,  because  the  laws  of  caste  will  not  permit 
strict  Hindus  to  leave  India  and  forbid  their  association 
with  strangers.  Even  where  no  religious  objections  have 
existed,  the  fear  of  a  loss  of  social  dignity  by  contamina- 
tion with  ordinary  people  has  prevented  many  native 
princes  and  nobles  from  sending  their  sons  to  ordinary 
schools.  Hence  princes,  chiefs  and  members  of  the  noble 
families  in  India  have  seldom  been  educated  and  until 
recently  this  illiteracy  was  not  considered  a  discredit,  be- 
cause it  was  so  common.  To  furnish  an  opportunity  for 
the  education  of  that  class  without  meeting  these  objec- 
tions. Lord  ]\Iayo,  while  viceroy,  founded  a  college  at 
Ajmer,  which  is  called  by  his  name.  A  similar  institu- 
tion was  established  at  Lahore  by  Sir  Charles  Atchison, 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  Punjab  in  1885.  The  corner 
stone  was  laid  by  the  Duke  of  Connaught.  A  considera- 
ble part  of  the  funds  were  contributed  by  the  Punjab 
princes,  and  the  balance  necessary  was  supplied  by  the 
imperiar  government.  Similar  institutions  have  since 
been  founded  at  Indore  and  Rajkot,  and  in  the  four 
schools  about  300  of  the  future  rulers  of  the  native  states 
are  now  receiving  a  healthy,  liberal,  modern  education. 
The  course  of  study  has  been  regulated  to  meet  peculiar 
requirements.  It  is  not  desired  to  make  great  scholars 
out  of  these  young  princes  to  fill  their  heads  with  use- 
less learning,  but  to  teach  them  knowledge  that  will  be 
of  practical  usefulness  when  they  assume  authority,  and 
to  cultivate  manly  habits  and  pure  tastes.  Their  phys- 
ical development  is  carefully  looked  after.  They  play 
football,  cricket  and  other  games  that  are  common  at  the 
English  universities ;  they  have  gymnasiums  and  prizes 
for  athletic  excellence.    They  are  taught  English,  French 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  135 

and  the  oriental  languages ;  lower  mathematics,  geog- 
raphy, history  and  the  applied  sciences,  particularly 
chemistry,  electricity  and  engineering. 

Lord  Curzon  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  these  institu- 
tions. He  usually  attends  the  graduating  exercises  and 
makes  addresses  to  the  students  in  presenting  prizes  or 
diplomas ;  and  he  gives  them  straight  talks  about  the  du- 
ties and  the  privileges  of  young  men  of  their  positions  and 
responsibilities.  He  tells  them  that  a  rajah  is  worthless 
unless  he  is  a  gentleman,  and  that  power  can  never  safe- 
ly be  intrusted  to  people  of  rank  unless  they  are  fitted  to 
exercise  it.  With  a  view  of  extending  their  training  and 
developing  their  characters  he  has  recently  organized 
what  is  called  the  Imperial  Cadet  Corps,  a  bodyguard  of 
the  Viceroy,  which  attends  him  upon  occasions  of  state, 
and  is  under  his  immediate  command.  He  inspects  the 
cadets  frequently  and  takes  an  active  personal  interest 
in  their  discipline  and  education.  The  course  of  instruc- 
tion lasts  for  three  years,  and  is  a  modification  of  that 
given  the  cadets  at  West  Point.  The  boys  are  taught 
military  tactics,  riding  and  the  sciences.  Very  little  at- 
tention is  paid  to  higher  mathematics  of  other  studies 
except  history,  law  and  the  modern  languages.  No  one 
is  eligible  for  admission  to  this  corps  except  members  of 
the  families  of  the  ruling  native  princes,  and  they  must 
be  graduates  of  one  of  the  four  colleges  I  have  men- 
tioned, under  20  years  of  age.  There  is  great  eagerness 
on  the  part  of  the  young  princess  to  join  the  dashing 
troop  of  horsemen.  Four  of  the  privates  are  now  actual 
rulers  of  states  with  several  millions  of  subjects  and  more 
than  thirty  are  future  maharajas.  The  honorary  com- 
mander is  the  Maharaja  Sir  Pertas  Singh,  but  the  actual 
commander  is  a  British  major.     It  is  proposed  to  offer 


136  MODERN  INDIA 

commissions  in  the  Indian  army  to  the  members  of  this 
corps  at  the  close  of  their  period  of  training,  but  that 
was  not  the  chief  purpose  in  Lord  Curzon's  mind  when 
he  suggested  the  organization.  He  desired  to  offer  the 
most  tempting  inducement  possible  for  the  young  princes 
to  attend  college  and  qualify  themselves  for  their  life 
work. 

American  visitors  to  India  are  often  impressed  with 
the  presence  of  the  same  problems  of  government  there 
that  perplex  our  own  people  in  the  Philippines,  and  al- 
though England  has  sent  her  ablest  men  and  applied  her 
most  mature  wisdom  to  their  solution,  they  are  just  as 
troublesome  and  unsettled  as  they  ever  were,  and  we  will 
doubtless  have  a  similar  experience  among  our  own  co- 
lonial or,  as  they  are  called,  insular  possessions.  There 
are  striking  coincidences.  It  makes  one  feel  quite  at 
home  to  hear  Lord  Curzon  accused  of  the  same  errors 
and  weaknesses  that  Judge  Taft  and  Governor  Wright 
have  been  charged  with ;  and  if  those  worthy  gentlemen 
could  get  together,  they  might  embrace  with  sympathetic 
fervor.  One  class  of  people  in  India  declares  that  Lord 
Curzon  sacrifices  everything  of  value  to  the  welfare  of  the 
natives ;  another  class  insists  that  he  has  his  foot  upon  the 
neck  of  the  poor  Hindu  and  is  grinding  his  brown  face 
into  the  dust.  In  both  England  and  India  are  organiza- 
tions of  good  people  who  have  conceived  it  to  be  their 
mission  to  defend  and  protect  the  natives  from  real  or 
imaginary  wrongs  they  are  suffering,  while  there  are  nu- 
merous societies  and  associations  whose  business  is  to 
see  that  the  Englishman  gets  his  rights  in  India  also. 

It  may  console  Lord  Curzon  to  know  that  the  criti- 
cisms of  his  policy  and  administration  have  been  directed 
at  every  viceroy  and  governor  general  of  India  since  the 


'■  HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  137 

time  of  Warren  Hastings,  and  they  will  probably  be  re- 
peated in  the  future  as  long  as  there  are  men  of  different 
minds  and  dispositions  and  different  ideas  of  what  is 
right  and  proper. 

England  has  given  India  a  good  government.  It  has 
accomplished  wonders  in  the  way  of  material  improve- 
ments and  we  can  say  the  same  of  the  administration  in 
the  Philippine  Islands,  even  for  the  short  period  of  Amer- 
ican occupation.  Mistakes  have  been  made  in  both 
countries.  President  Roosevelt,  Secretary  Taft,  Govern- 
or General  Wright  and  his  associates  would  find  great 
profit  in  studying  the  experience  of  the  British.  The 
same  questions  and  the  same  difficulties  that  confront  the 
officials  at  Manila  have  occurred  again  and  again  in  India 
during  the  last  200  years,  and  particularly  since  1858, 
when  the  authority  and  rights  of  the  East  India  Company 
were  transferred  to  the  crown.  And  the  most  serious 
of  all  those  questions  is  how  far  the  native  shall  be  ad- 
mitted to  share  the  responsibilities  of  the  government. 
The  situations  are  similar. 

The  population  of  India,  like  that  of  the  Philippines, 
consists  of  a  vast  mixed  multitude  in  various  stages  of 
civilization,  in  which  not  one  man  in  fifty  and  not  one 
woman  in  200  can  read  or  write. 

Ninety  per  cent  of  the  people,  and  the  same  proportion 
of  the  people  of  the  Philippines,  do  not  care  a  rap  about 
"representative  government."  They  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  it.  They  would  not  understand  what  the 
words  meant  if  they  ever  heard  them  spoken.  The  small 
minority  who  do  care  are  the  "educated  natives,"  who  are 
just  as  human  as  the  rest  of  us,  and  equally  anxious  to 
acquire  money  and  power,  wear  a  title,  hold  a  govern- 
ment office  and  draw  a  salary  from  the  public  funds. 


138  MODERN  INDIA 

There  are  many  most  estimable  Hindu  gentlemen  who  do 
not  come  within  this  class,  but  I  am  speaking  generally, 
and  every  person  of  experience  in  India  has  expressed 
the  same  opinion,  when  I  say  that  a  Hindu  immediately 
becomes  a  politician  as  soon  as  he  is  educated.  It  he  does 
not  suceed  in  obtaining  an  office  he  becomes  an  opponent 
of  the  government,  and  more  or  less  of  an  agitator,  ac- 
cording to  his  ability  and  ambitions. 

The  universities  of  India  turn  out  about  five  thousand 
young  men  every  year  who  have  been  stuffed  with  infor- 
mation for  the  purpose  pf  passing  the  civil  service  exam- 
inations, and  most  of  them  have  only  one  aim  in  life, 
which  is  to  secure  government  employment.  As  the 
supply  of  candidates  is  always  much  larger  than  the 
demand,  the  greater  number  fail,  and,  in  their  disap- 
pointment, finding  no  other  profitable  field  for  the 
exercise  of  their  talents,  become  demagogues,  reformers 
and  critics  of  the  administration.  They  inspire  and  main- 
tain agitations  for  "home  rule"  and  "representative  gov- 
ernment." They  hold  conventions,  deliver  lectures,  write 
for  the  newspapers,  and  denounce  Lord  Curzon  and  his 
associates.  If  they  were  in  the  Philippine  Islands  they 
would  organize  revolutions  and  paper  governments  from 
places  of  concealment  in  the  forests  and  mountains.  They 
classify  their  emotions  and  desire  for  office  under  the 
name  of  patriotism,  and  some  of  them  are  undoubtedly 
sincere.  If  they  had  a  chance  they  would  certainly  give 
their  fellow  countrymen  the  best  government  and  the 
highest  degree  of  happiness  within  their  power.  They 
call  themselves  "the  people."  But  in  no  sense  are  they 
representatives  of  the  great  masses  of  the  inhabitants. 
They  have  no  influence  with  them  and  really  care  nothing 
about  them.    If  the  English  were  to  withdraw  from  India 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  139 

to-day  there  would  be  perpetual  revolution.  If  the  Amer- 
icans were  to  withdraw  from  Manila  the  result  would  be 
the  same. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that,  with  all  their  humbug 
about  benevolence,  the  British  have  never  had  the  pre- 
sumption to  assert  that  their  occupation  of  India  is  ex- 
clusively for  the  benefit  of  the  natives.  They  are  candid 
enough  to  admit  that  their  purpose  is  not  entirely  unself- 
ish, and  that,  while  they  are  promoting  civilization  and 
uplifting  a  race,  they  expect  that  race  to  consume  a  large 
quantity  of  British  merchandise  and  pay  good  prices  for 
it.  The  sooner  such  an  understanding  is  reached  in  the 
Philippines  the  better.  We  are  no  more  unselfish  than 
the  British,  and  to  keep  up  the  pretext  of  pure  benevo- 
lence while  we  are  in  the  Philippines  for  trade  and  profit 
also,  is  folly  and  fraud.  It  is  neither  fair  nor  just  to  the 
Filipinos  nor  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  At  the 
same  time  the  British  authorities  in  India  have  given 
the  natives  a  fair  share  of  the  offices  and  have  elevated 
them  to  positions  of  honor,  influence  and  responsibility. 
But  they  have  discovered,  as  our  people  must  also  dis- 
cover in  the  Philippines,  that  a  civil  service  examination 
does  not  disclose  all  the  qualities  needed  by  rulers  of  men. 
The  Hindu  is  very  similar  in  character,  disposition  and 
talent  to  the  Filipino ;  he  has  quick  perceptions,  is  keen- 
witted, cunning  and  apt  at  imitations.  He  learns  with 
remarkable  ease  and  adapts  himself  to  new  conditions 
with  great  facility,  but  no  amount  of  those  qualities  can 
make  up  for  the  manly  courage,  the  sterling  honesty,  the 
unflinching  determination  and  tireless  energy  of  the  Brit- 
ish character.    The  same  is  true  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

At  the  last  census  only  864  Englishmen  held  active 
civil  positions  under  the  imperial  government  and  3,752 


I40  MODERN  INDIA 

natives.  The  number  of  natives  employed  in  the  public 
service  has  been  constantly  increasing  since  1879,  while 
the  number  of  Englishmen  has  been  gradually  growing 
less.  No  person  other  than  a  native  of  India  can  be  ap- 
pointed to  certain  positions  under  the  government.  Na- ' 
tive  officers  manage  almost  all  of  the  multifarious  inter- 
ests connected  with  the  revenues,  the  lands,  the  civil 
courts  and  local  administration.  The  duties  of  the  civil 
courts  throughout  India,  excepting  the  Court  of  Appeals, 
are  almost  entirely  performed  by  native  judges,  who 
exercise  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  affecting  Europeans  as 
well  as  natives,  and  the  salaries  they  receive  are  very 
liberal.  No  country  in  the  world  pays  "better  salaries 
than  India  to  its  judiciary.  In  Bengal  a  high  court  judge 
whether  English  or  native,  receives  $i6|eiot>  a  y^ar,  and 
the  members  of  the  lower  courts  are  paid  corresponding 
amounts. 

It  is  asserted  by  prominent  and  unprejudiced  members 
of  the  bar  that  nothing  in  the  history  of  civilization  has 
been  more  remarkable  than  the  improvement  that  has 
taken  place  in  the  standard  of  morality  among  the  higher 
classes  of  Indian  officials,  particularly  among  the  judi- 
ciary. This  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  fact  that 
their  salaries  have  been  sufficient  to  remove  them  from 
temptation,  but  a  still  greater  influence  has  been  the  ex- 
ample of  the  irreproachable  integrity  of  the  Englishmen 
who  have  served  with  them  and  have  created  an  atmos- 
phere of  honor  and  morality. 

The  English  officials  employed  under  the  government 
of  India  belong  to  what  is  known  as  "The  Covenanted 
Civil  Service"  the  term  "covenanted"  having  been  inher- 
ited from  the  East  India  Company,  which  required  its 
employes  to  enter  into  covenants   stipulating  that  they 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  141 

would  serve  a  term  of  years  under  certain  conditions,  in- 
cluding retirement  upon  half  pay  when  aged,  and  pen- 
sions for  their  families  after  their  death.  Until  1853 
all  appointments  to  the  covenanted  service  were  made  by 
nomination,  but  in  that  year  they  were  thrown  open  to 
public  competition  of  all  British  subjects  without  distinc- 
tion of  race,  including  natives  of  India  as  well  as  of 
England.  The  conditions  are  so  exacting  that  few 
native  Hindus  are  willing  to  accept  them,  and  of  the  1,067 
men  whose  names  were  on  the  active  and  retired  lists 
on  the  31st  of  December,  1902,  only  forty  were  natives 
of  India. 

Lord  Macaulay  framed  the  rules  of  the  competition 
and  the  scheme  of  examination,  and  his  idea  was  to 
attract  the  best  and  ablest  young  men  in  the  empire. 
Candidates  who  are  successful  are  required  to  remain 
one  year  on  probation,  with  an  allowance  of  $500,  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  themselves  for  a  second  examina- 
tion which  is  much  more  severe  than  the  first.  Having 
passed  the  second  examination,  they  become  permanent 
members  of  the  civil  service.  They  cannot  be  removed 
without  cause,  and  are  promoted  according  to  length  of 
service  and  advanced  on  their  merits  in  a  manner  very 
similar  to  that  which  prevails  in  our  army  and  navy. 
None  but  members  of  the  covenanted  service  can  become 
heads  of  departments,  commissioners  of  revenue,  magis- 
trates and  collectors,  and  there  is  a  long  list  of  offices 
which  belong  to  them  exclusively.  Their  service  and 
assignment  to  duty  is  largely  governed  by  their  special 
qualifications  and  experience.  They  are  encouraged  to 
improve  themselves  and  qualify  themselves  for  special 
posts.  A  covenanted  official  who  can  speak  the  native 
languages,  who  distinguishes  himself  in  literature  or  in 


142  MODERN  INDIA 

oratory,  who  devises  plans  for  public  works,  or  distin- 
guishes himself  in  other  intellectual  or  official  lines  of  ac- 
tivity is  sure  to  be  recognized  and  receive  rapid  advance- 
ment, while  those  who  prefer  to  perform  only  the  ar- 
duous duties  that  are  required  of  them  will  naturally  re- 
main in  the  background.  There  is,  and  there  always  will 
be,  more  or  less  favoritism  and  partiality  as  long  as  hu- 
man affections  and  personal  regard  influence  official  con- 
duct, and  I  do  not  believe  we  would  have  it  otherwise. 
We  can  admire  the  stern  sense  of  justice  which  sends 
a  son  to  the  scaffold  or  denies  a  brother  a  favor  that  he 
asks,  but  we  do  not  like  to  have  such  men  in  our  families. 
There  is  undoubtedly  more  or  less  personal  and  political 
influence  exercised  in  the  Indian  service,  but  I  doubt  if 
any  other  country  is  more  free  from  those  common  and 
natural  faults. 

In  addition  to  the  covenanted  service  are  the  imperial 
service  and  the  provincial  service,  which  are  recruited 
chiefly  from  the  natives,  although  both  are  open  to  any 
subject  of  King  Edward  VII.  All  these  positions  are 
secured  by  competitive  examinations,  and,  as  I  have  al- 
ready intimated,  the  universities  of  India  have  arranged 
their  courses  of  study  to  prepare  native  candidates  for 
them.  This  has  been  criticised  as  a  false  and  injurious 
educational  policy.  The  universities  are  called  nurseries 
for  the  unnatural  propagation  of  candidates  for  the  civil 
service,  and  almost  every  young  man  who  enters  them 
expects,  or  at  least  aspires,  to  a  government  position. 
There  is  no  complaint  of  the  efficiency  of  the  material 
they  furnish  for  the  public  offices.  The  exam- 
inations are  usually  sufficient  to  disclose  the 
mental  qualifications  of  the  candidates  and  are 
conducted    with    great     care    and    scrupulousness,    but 


HOW  INDIA  IS  GOVERNED  143 

they  fail  to  discover  the  most  essential  qualifications  for 
official  responsibility,  and  the  greater  number  of  native 
appointees  are  contented  to  settle  down  at  a  government 
desk  and  do  as  little  work  as  possible. 


VIII 

THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA 

The  railways  of  India  are  many  and  long  and  useful, 
but  still  very  primitive  in  their  appointments,  having  been 
built  for  utility  and  convenience,  and  not  for  comfort. 
The  day  will  come,  I  suppose,  when  modern  improve- 
ments will  be  introduced,  and  the  long  journeys  which 
are  necessary  to  reach  any  part  of  the  vast  empire  will  be 
made  as  pleasant  and  luxurious  as  transcontinental  trips 
in  the  United  States.  Just  now,  however,  the  equipment 
is  on  a  military  basis  of  simplicity  and  severity.  Passen- 
gers are  furnished  with  what  they  need,  and  no  more. 
They  are  hauled  from  one  place  to  another  at  reasonable 
rates  of  speed ;  they  are  given  shelter  from  the  sun  and 
the  storms  en  route ;  a  place  to  sit  in  the  daytime  and  to 
lie  down  during  the  night;  and  at  proper  intervals  the 
trains  stop  for  refreshments — not  very  good  or  very  bad, 
but  "fair  to  middling,"  as  the  yankees  say,  in  quality  and 
quantity.  It  a  traveler  wants  anything  more  he  must 
provide  it  himself.  People  who  live  in  India  and  are  ac- 
customed to  these  things  are  perfectly  satisfied  with 
them,  although  the  tourist  who  has  just  arrived  is  apt 
to  criticise  and  condemn  for  the  first  few  days. 

Every  European  resident  of  India  who  is  accustomed 
to  traveling  by  train  has  an  outfit  always  ready  similar 
to  the  kit  of  a  soldier  or  a  naval  officer.  It  is  as  necessary 
as  a  trunk  or  a  bag,  an  overcoat  or  umbrella,  and  consists 

144 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  145 

of  a  roll  of  bedding,  with  sheets,  blankets  and  pillows, 
protected  by  a  canvas  cover  securely  strapped  and  ar- 
ranged so  that  when  he  wants  to  retire  he  need  only 
unbuckle  the  straps  and  unroll  the  blankets  on  the  bunk 
in  the  railway  carriage.  He  also  has  a  "tiffin  basket," 
with  a  tea  pot,  an  alcohol  lamp,  a  tea  caddy,  plates  and 
cups  of  granite  ware,  spoons,  knives  and  forks,  a  box  of 
sugar,  a  tin  of  jam,  a  tin  of  biscuits  or  crackers,  and  other 
concomitants  for  his  interior  department  in  case  of  an 
emergency;  and,  never  having  had  anything  better,  he 
thinks  the  present  arrangement  good  enough  and  won- 
ders why  Americans  are  dissatisfied.  Persons  of  ordinary 
common  sense  and  patience  can  get  used  to  almost  any- 
thing, and  after  a  day  of  two  travelers  trained  to  the 
luxury  of  Pullman  sleepers  and  dining  cars  adjust  them- 
selves to  the  primitive  facilities  of  India  without  loss 
of  sleep  or  temper,  excepting  always  one  condition :  You 
are  never  sure  "where  you  are  at,"  so  to  speak.  You  never 
know  what  sort  of  accommodations  you  are  going  to 
have.  There  is  always  an  exasperating  uncertainty  as  to 
what  will  be  left  for  you  when  the  train  reaches  your 
place  of  embarkation. 

Sleeping  berths,  such  as  they  are,  go  free  with  first 
and  second  class  tickets  and  every  traveler  is  entitled  to 
one  bunk,  but  passengers  at  intermediate  points  cannot 
make  definite  arrangements  until  the  train  rolls  in,  no 
matter  whether  it  is  noonday  or  2  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. You  can  go  down  and  appeal  to  the  station  master 
a  day  or  two  in  advance  and  advise  him  of  your  wants 
and  wishes,  and  he  will  put  your  name  down  on  a  list. 
If  you  are  so  fortunate  as  to  be  at  the  starting  place  of 
the  train  he  will  assign  you  a  bunk  and  slip  a  card  with 
your  name  written  upon  it  into  a  little  slot  made  for  the 


146  MODERN  INDIA 

purpose ;  the  other  bunks  in  the  compartment  will  be 
allotted  to  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  in  the  same  manner. 
There  are  apartments  reserved  for  ladies,  too,  but  if  you 
and  your  wife  or  family  want  one  to  yourselves  you  must 
be  a  major  general,  or  a  lieutenant  governor,  or  a  rajah, 
or  a  lord  high  commissioner  of  something  or  other  to  at- 
tain that  desire.  If  they  insist  upon  being  exclusive,  or- 
dinary people  are  compelled  to  show  as  many  tickets  as 
there  are  bunks  in  a  compartment,  and  the  first  that  come 
have  the  pick,  as  is  perfectly  natural.  The  fellow  who 
enters  the  train  later  in  the  day  must  be  satisfied  with 
]\Ir.  Hobson's  choice,  and  take  what  is  left,  even  if  it 
doesn't  fit  him.  It  the  train  is  full,  if  every  bunk  is  occu- 
pied, another  car  is  hitched  on,  and  he  gets  a  lower,  but 
this  will  not  be  done  as  long  as  a  single  upper  is  vacant. 
And  the  passengers  are  packed  away  as  closely  as  pos- 
sible because  the  trains  are  heavy  and  the  engines  are 
light,  and  the  schedules  must  be  kept  in  the  running. 
A  growler  will  tell  you  that  he  never  gets  a  lower  berth, 
that  he  is  always  crowded  into  a  compartment  that  is 
already  three-fourths  occupied  with  passengers  who  are 
trying  to  sleep,  but  he  forgets  that  they  have  more  than 
he  to  complain  of,  and  if  he  is  a  malicious  man  he  can 
find  deep  consolation  in  the  thought  and  make  as  great 
a  nuisance  of  himself  as  possible.  I  do  not  know  how 
the  gentler  sex  behave  under  such  circumstances,  but  I 
have  heard  stories  that  I  am  too  polite  to  repeat. 

There  is  no  means  of  ventilation  in  the  ceiling,  but 
there  is  a  frieze  of  blinds  under  it,  along  both  sides  of 
the  car,  with  slats  that  can  be  turned  to  let  the  air  in  di- 
rectly upon  the  body  of  the  occupant  of  the  upper  berth, 
who  is  at  liberty  to  elect  whether  he  dies  of  pneumonia 
or  suffocation.     The  gentleman  in  the  lower  berth  has 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  147 

a  row  of  windows  along  his  back,  which  never  fit  closely 
but  rattle  like  a  snare  drum,  and  have  wide  gaps  that 
admit  a  forced  draught  of  air  if  the  night  is  damp  or 
chilly.  If  it  is  hot  the  windows  swell  and  stick  so  that 
you  cannot  open  them,  and  during  the  daytime  they  rattle 
so  loud  that  conversation  is  impossible  unless  the  passen- 
gers have  throats  of  brass  like  the  statues  of  Siva.  In 
India,  during  the  winter  season,  there  is  a  wide  variation 
in  the  temperature,  sometimes  as  much  as  thirty  or  forty 
degrees.  At  night  you  will  need  a  couple  of  thick  blan- 
kets ;  at  noonday  it  is  necessary  to  wear  a  pith  helmet  or 
carry  an  umbrella  to  protect  the  head  from  the  sun,  and 
as  people  do  their  traveling  in  the  dry  season  chiefly,  the 
dust  is  dreadful.  Everything  in  the  car  wears  a  soft  gray 
coating  before  the  train  has  been  in  motion  half  an  hour. 
The  bunks  are  too  narrow  for  beds  and  too  wide  for 
seats.  The  act  of  rolling  over  in  the  night  is  attended 
with  some  danger  and  more  anxiety,  especially  by  the 
occupants  of  the  upper  bertlis.  In  the  daytime  you  can 
sit  on  the  edge  like  an  embarrassed  boy,  with  nothing  to 
support  your  spine,  or  you  can  curl  up  like  a  Buddha  on 
his  lotus  flower,  with  your  legs  under  you ;  but  that  is 
not  dignified,  nor  is  it  a  comfortable  posture  for  a  fat 
man.  Slender  girls  can  do  it  all  right ;  but  it  is  impracti- 
cable for  ladies  who  have  passed  the  thirty-third  degree, 
or  have  acquired  embonpoint  with  their  other  graces.  Or 
you  can  shove  back  against  the  windows  and  let  your  feet 
stick  out  straight  toward  the  infinite.  It  isn't  the  fault  of 
a  railway  corporation  or  the  master  mechanic  of  a  car 
factory  if  they  don't  reach  the  floor.  It  is  a  defect  for 
which  nature  is  responsible.  President  Lincoln  once  said 
every  man's  legs  ought  to  be  long  enough  to  reach  the 
ground. 


148 


MODERN  INDIA 


The  cars  are  divided  into  two,  tliree,  or  four  com- 
partments for  first-class  passengers,  with  a  narrow  little 
pen  for  their  servants  at  the  end  which  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary, because  nobody  in  India  travels  without  an  at- 
tendant to  wait  upon  him.  His  comfort  as  well  as  his 
social  position  requires  it,  and  few  have  the  moral  cour- 
age to  disregard  the  rule.  To  make  it  a  little  clearer  I 
will  give  you  a  diagram  sketched  by  your  special  artist 
on  the  spot. 


\oaoU  oooR 


IWirioow 


WINMW 


OOOft 


IwlMOaw  TOILM  Odob 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  149 

This  is  an  excellent  representation  of  a  first-class  rail- 
way carriage  in  India  without  .meretricious  embellish- 
ments. 

The  second-class  compartments,  for  which  two-thirds  of 
the  first-class  rates  are  charged,  have  six  narrow  bunks  in- 
stead of  four,  the  two  extras  being  in  the  middle  sup- 
ported by  iron  rods  fastened  to  the  floor  and  the  ceiling. 
The  woodwork  of  all  cars,  first,  second,  and  third  class, 
is  plain  matched  lumber,  like  our  flooring,  painted  or 
stained  and  varnished.  The  floor  is  bare,  without  carpet 
or  matting,  and  around  on  the  v/all,  wherever  there  is 
room  for  them,  enormous  hooks  are  screwed  on.  Over 
the  doors  are  racks  of  netting.  The  bunks  are  plam 
wooden  benches,  covered  with  leather  cushions  stuffed 
with  straw  and  packed  as  hard  as  tombstones  by  the 
weight  of  previous  passengers.  The  ceiling  is  of  boards 
pierced  with  a  hole  for  a  glass  globe,  which  prevents  the 
oil  dripping  upon  your  bald  spot  from  a  feeble  and  de- 
jected lamp.  It  is  too  dim  to  read  by  and  scarcely  bright 
enough  to  enable  you  to  distinguish  the  expression  upon 
the  lineaments  of  your  fellow  passengers.  A  scoop  net 
of  green  cloth  on  a  wire  springs  back  over  the  light  to 
cover  it  when  you  want  to  sleep :  Sometimes  it  works 
and  sometimes  it  doesn't.  The  toilet  room  is  Spartan  in 
its  simplicity,  and  the  amount  of  water  in  the  tanks  de- 
pends upon  the  conscientiousness  of  a  naked  heathen  of 
the  lowest  caste,  who  walks  over  the  roofs  of  the  cars 
and  is  supposed  to  fill  them  from  a  pig  skin  suspended  on 
his  back.  You  furnish  your  own  towel  and  the  most 
untidy  stranger  in  the  compartment  usually  wants  to 
borrow  it,  having  forgotten  to  bring  one  himself.  You 
acquire  merit  in  heaven,  as  the  Buddhists  say,  by  loaning 


I50  MODERN  INDIA 

it  to  him,  but  it  is  a  better  plan  to  carry  two  towels,  in  or- 
der to  be  prepared  for  such  an  emergency. 

As  we  were  about  starting  upon  a  tour  that 
required  several  thousand  miles  of  railway  travel  and 
several  weeks  of  time,  the  brilliant  idea  of  avoiding  aU 
risks  and  anxiety  by  securing  a  private  car  was 
suggested,  and  negotiations  were  opened  to  that 
purpose,  but  were  not  concluded  because  of  nu- 
merous considerations  and  contingencies  which  arose  at 
every  interview  with  the  railway  officials.  They  are  not 
accustomed  to  such  innovations  and  could  not  decide  up- 
on their  own  terms  or  ascertain,  during  the  period  before 
departure,  what  the  connecting  lines  would  charge  us. 
There  are  private  cars  fitted  up  luxuriously  for  railway 
managers  and  high  officials  of  the  government,  but  they 
couldn't  spare  one  of  them  for  so  long  a  time  as  we  would 
need  it.  Finally  somebody  suggested  a  car  that  was 
fitted  out  for  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Connaught  when 
they  came  over  to  the  durbar  at  Delhi.  It  had  two 
compartments,  with  a  bathroom,  a  kitchen  and  servants' 
quarters,  but  only  three  bunks.  They  kindly  offered  to 
let  us  use  it  provided  we  purchased  six  first-class  tickets, 
and  were  too  obtuse  to  comprehend  why  he  objected  to 
paying  six  fares  for  a  car  that  could  not  possibly  admit 
more  than  three  people.  But  that  was  only  the  first  of 
several  issues.  At  the  next  interview  they  decided  to 
charge  us  demurrage  at  the  rate  of  i6  cents  an  hour  for 
all  the  time  the  car  was  not  in  motion,  and,  finally,  at  the 
third  interview,  the  traffic  manager  said  it  would  be  nec- 
essary for  us  to  buy  six  first-class  tickets  in  order  to  get 
the  empty  car  back  to  Bombay,  its  starting  point,  at  the 
end  of  our  journey.  This  brought  the  charges  up  to  a 
total  as  large  as  would  be  necessary  to  transport  a  circus 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  151 

or  an  opera  company,  and  we  decided  to  take  our  chances 
in  the  regular  way. 

We  bought  some  sheets  and  pillow  cases,  pillows  and 
old-fashioned  comfortables  and  blankets,  and  bespoke  a 
compartment  on  the  train  leaving  Bombay  that  night. 
Two  hours  before  the  time  for  starting  we  sent  Thagor- 
ayas,  our  "bearer,  down  to  make  up  the  beds,  which,  be- 
ing accustomed  to  that  sort  of  business,  he  did  in  an  ar- 
tistic manner,  and  by  allowing  him  to  take  command  of 
the  expedition  we  succeeded  in  making  the  journey  com- 
fortably and  with  full  satisfaction.  The  ladies  of  our 
party  were  assigned  to  one  compartment  and  the  gentle- 
men to  another,  where  the  latter  had  the  company  of  an 
engineer  engaged  upon  the  Bombay  harbor  improve- 
ments, and  a  very  intelligent  and  polite  Englishman  who 
acts  as  "adviser"  to  a  native  prince  in  the  administration 
of  an  interior  province. 

On  the  same  train  and  next  to  our  compartment  was 
the  private  coach  of  the  Gaikwar  of  Baroda,  who  was 
attended  by  a  dozen  or  more  servants,  and  came  to  the 
train  escorted  by  a  multitude  of  friends,  who  hung  gar- 
lands of  marigold  about  his  neck  until  his  eyes  and  the 
bridge  of  his  nose  were  the  only  features  visible.  The 
first-class  passengers  came  down  with  car  loads  of  trunks 
and  bags  and  bundles,  which,  to  avoid  the  charge  for  ex- 
tra luggage,  they  endeavored  to  stow  away  in  their  com- 
partments. The  third-class  carriages  were  packed  like 
sardines  with  natives,  and  up  to  the  limit  allowed  by  law, 
for,  painted  in  big  white  letters,  where  every  passenger 
and  every  observer  can  read  it,  is  a  notice  giving  the 
number  of  people  that  can  be  jammed  into  that  particular 
compartment  in  the  summer  and  in  the  winter.  We 
found  similar  inscriptions  on  nearly  all  freight  cars  which 


152  MODERN  INDIA 

are  used  to  transport  natives  during  the  fairs  and  fes- 
tivals that  occur  frequently — allowing  fifteen  in  summer 
and  twcnty-tiirce  in  winter  in  some  of  the  cars,  and  in  the 
larger  ones  thirty-four  in  winter  and  twenty-six  in  sum- 
mer, to  avoid  homicide  by  suffocation. 

The  Gaikwar  of  Baroda  in  his  luxurious  chariot  did 
not  sleep  any  better  than  the  innocent  and  humble  mortals 
that  occupied  our  beds.  We  woke  up  in  the  morning  at 
Ahmcdabad,  got  a  good  breakfast  at  the  station,  and 
went  out  to  see  the  wonderful  temples  and  palaces  and 
bazaars  that  are  described  in  the  next  chapter. 

There  are  now  nearly  28,000  miles  of  railway  lines  in 
India.  On  Jan.  i,  1903,  the  exact  mileage  under  opera- 
tion was  26,563,  with  1,190  miles  under  construction. 
The  latter  was  more  than  half  completed  during  the  year, 
and  before  the  close  of  1905,  unless  something  occurs  to 
prevent,  the  total  will  pass  the  thirty  thousand  mark.  The 
increase  has  been  quite  rapid  during  the  last  five  years, 
owing  to  the  experience  of  the  last  famine,  when  it  was 
demonstrated  that  facilities  for  rapid  transportation  of 
food  supplies  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another 
were  an  absolute  necessity.  It  is  usually  the  case  that 
when  the  inhabitants  of  one  province  are  dying  of  starv- 
ation those  of  another  are  blessed  with  abundant  crops, 
and  the  most  effective  remedy  for  famine  is  the  means 
of  distributing  the  food  supply  where  it  is  needed.  Be- 
fore the  great  mutiny  of  1857  there  were  few  railroads 
in  India,  and  the  lesson  taught  by  that  experience  was  of 
incalculable  valye.  If  re-enforcements  could  have  been 
sent  by  rail  to  the  beleaguered  garrisons,  instead  of  mak- 
ing the  long  marches,  the  massacres  might  have  been  pre- 
vented and  thousands  of  precious  lives  might  have  been 
saved.    In  1880  the  system  amounted  to  less  than  10,000 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  153 

miles.  In  1896  it  had  been  doubled;  in  1901  it  had  passed 
the  25,000  mile  mark,  and  now  the  existing  lines  are  be- 
ing extended,  and  branches  and  feeders  are  being  built 
for  military  as  well  as  famine  emergencies.  All  the  prin- 
cipal districts  and  cities  are  connected  by  rail.  All  of 
the  important  strategical  points  and  military  cantonments 
can  be  reached  promptly,  as  necessity  requires,  and  in 
case  of  a  rebellion  troops  could  be  poured  into  any  par- 
ticular point  from  the  farthermost  limits  of  India  within 
three  or  four  days. 

As  I  have  already  reminded  you  several  times,  India 
is  a  very  big  country,  and  it  requires  many  miles  of  rails 
to  furnish  even  necessary  transportation  facilities.  The 
time  between  Bombay  and  Calcutta  is  forty-five  hours  by 
ordinary  trains  and  thirty-eight  hours  by  a  fast  train, 
with  limited  passenger  accommodation,  which  starts  from 
the  docks  of  Bombay  immediately  after  the  arrival  of 
steamers  with  the  European  mails.  From  Madras,  the 
most  important  city  of  southern  India,  to  Delhi,  the  most 
important  in  the  north,  sixty-six  hours  of  travel  are  re- 
quired. From  Peshawur,  the  extreme  frontier  post  in  the 
north,  which  commands  the  Kyber  Pass,  leading  into 
Afganistan,  to  Tuticorin,  the  southern  terminus  of  the 
system,  it  is  3,400  miles  by  the  regular  railway  route, 
via  Calcutta,  and  seven  days  and  night  will  be  necessary 
to  make  the  journey  under  ordinary  circumstances. 
Troops  could  be  hurried  through  more  rapidly. 

Nearly  all  the  railways  of  India  have  either  been  built 
by  the  government  or  have  been  assisted  with  guarantees 
of  the  payment  of  from  3  to  5  per  cent  dividends.  The 
government  itself  owns  19,126  miles  and  has  guaranteed 
3,866  miles,  while  3,242  miles  have  been  constructed  by 
the  native  states.     Of  the  government  lines  13,441  miles 


154  MODERN  INDIA 

have  been  leased  to  private  companies  for  operation ; 
5,125  miles  are  operated  by  the  government  itself.  Near- 
ly three-fourths  of  the  lines  owned  by  native  states  have 
been  leased  for  operation. 

The  total  capital  invested  in  railway  property,  to  the 
end  of  1902,  amounted  to  $1,025,000,000,  and  during  that 
year  the  average  net  earnings  of  the  entire  mileage 
amounted  to  5.10  per  cent  of  that  amount.  The  surplus 
earnings,  after  the  payment  of  all  fixed  charges  and  guar- 
antees and  interest  upon  bonds  amounted  to  $4,233,080. 

The  number  of  passengers  carried  in  1902  was  197,- 
749,567,  an  increase  of  6,614,211  over  the  previous  year. 
The  aggregate  freight  hauled  was  44,142,672  tons,  an 
increase  of  2,104,425  tons  over  previous  year,  which 
shows  a  healthy  condition.  During  the  last  ten  years 
the  gross  earnings  of  all  the  railways  in  India  increased 
at  the  rate  of  41  per  cent. 

Of  the  gross  earnings  59  per  cent,  were  derived  from 
freight  and  the  balance  from  passengers. 

There  is  now  no  town  of  importance  in  India  without 
a  telegraph  station.  The  telephone  is  not  much  used, 
but  the  telegraph  lines,  which  belong  to  the  government, 
more  than  pay  expenses.  There  has  been  an  enormous 
increase  in  the  number  of  messages  sent  in  the  last  few 
years  by  natives,  which  indicates  that  they  are  learning 
the  value  of  modern  improvements. 

The  government  telegraph  lines  are  run  in  connection 
with  the  mails  and  in  the  smaller  towns  the  postmasters 
are  telegraph  operators  also.  In  the  large  cities  the 
telegraph  offices  are  situated  in  the  branch  postoffices  and 
served  by  the  same  men,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  divide 
the  cost  of  maintenance.  According  to  the  present  sys- 
tem the  telegraph  department  maintains  the  lines,  sup- 


THE  RAILWAYS  OF  INDIA  155 

plies  all  the  telegraphic  requirements  of  the  offices  and 
pays  one-half  of  the  salaries  of  operators,  who  also  at- 
tend to  duties  connected  with  the  postoffice.  There 
were  68,084  miles  of  wire  and  15,686  offices  on  January 
I,  1904.  The  rate  of  charges  for  ordinary  telegrams  is 
33  cents  for  eight  words,  and  4  cents  for  each  additional 
word.  Telegrams  marked  "urgent"  are  given  the  right 
of  way  over  all  other  business  and  are  charged  double 
the  ordinary  rates.  Telegrams  marked  "deferred"  are 
sent  at  the  convenience  of  the  operator,  generally  during 
the  night,  at  half  of  the  ordinary  rates.  As  a  matter  of 
convenience  telegrams  may  be  paid  for  by  sticking  post- 
age stamps  upon  the  blanks. 

There  are  38,479  postoffices  in  India  and  in  1902 
545,364,313  letters  were  handled,  which  was  an  increase 
of  24,000,000  over  the  previous  year  and  of  100,000,000 
since  1896.  The  total  revenues  of  the  postoffice  depart- 
ment were  $6,785,880,  while  the  expenditures  were 
$6,111,070. 


IX 

THE  CITY  OF  AHMEDABAD 

Ahmedabad,  capital  of  the  province  of  Jujarat,  once 
the  greatest  city  of  India,  and  formerly  "as  large  as 
London,"  is  the  first  stopping  place  on  the  conventional 
tour  from  Bombay  through  the  northern  part  of  the 
empire,  because  it  contains  the  most  perfect  and  pure 
specimens  of  Saracenic  architecture ;  and  our  experience 
taught  us  that  it  is  a  place  no  traveler  should  miss.  It 
certainly  ranks  next  to  Agra  and  Delhi  for  the  beauty 
and  extent  of  its  architectural  glories,  and  for  other  rea- 
sons it  is  worth  visiting.  In  the  eleventh  century  it 
was  the  center  of  the  Eden  of  India,  broad,  fertile  plains, 
magnificent  forests  of  sweet-scented  trees,  abounding  in 
population  and  prosperity.  It  has  passed  through  two 
long  periods  of  greatness,  two  of  decay  and  one  of  re- 
vival. Under  the  rule  of  Sidh  Rajah,  "the  ^Magnificent," 
one  of  the  noblest  and  greatest  of  the  Moguls,  it  reached 
the  height  of  its  wealth  and  power  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  He  erected  schools,  palaces  and  tem- 
ples, and  surrounded  them  with  glorious  gardens.  He 
called  to  his  side  learned  pundits  and  scholarly  priests, 
who  taught  philosophy  and  morals  under  his  generous 
patronage.  He  encouraged  the  arts  and  industries.  His 
wealth  was  unlimited,  and,  according  to  local  tradition, 
he  lived  in  a  style  of  magnificence  that  has  never  been 
surpassed  by  any  of  the  native  princes  since.     His  jewels 

156 


THE  CITY  OF  AHMEDABAD  157 

were  the  wonder  of  the  world,  and  one  of  the  legends 
says  that  he  inherited  them  from  the  gods.  But,  unfor- 
tunately, his  successors  were  weak  and  worthless  men, 
and  the  glory  of  his  kingdom  passed  gradually  away 
imtil,  a  century  later,  his  debilitated  and  indolent  sub- 
jects were  overcome  and  passed  under  the  power  of  a 
Moslem  who,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
restored  the  importance  of  the  province. 

Ahmed  Shah  was  his  name. 

He  built  a  citadel  of  impregnable  strength  and  impos- 
ing architecture  and  surrounded  it  by  a  city  with  broad 
streets  and  splendid  buildings  and  called  it  after  himself ; 
for  Ahmedabad  means  the  City  of  Ahmed.  Where  his 
predecessor  attracted  priests  and  scholars  he  brought 
artists,  clever  craftsmen,  skilled  mechanics  and  artisans 
in  gold,  silver,  brass  and  clay ;  weavers  of  costly  fabrics 
with  genius  to  design  and  skill  to  execute.  Architects 
and  engineers  were  sent  for  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  merchants  came  from  every  country  to  buy  wares. 
Thus  Ahmedabad  became  a  center  of  trade  and  manufac- 
ture, with  a  population  of  a  million  inhabitants,  and  was 
the  richest  and  busiest  city  in  the  Mogul  Empire. 
Merchants  who  had  come  to  buy  in  its  markets  spread  its 
reputation  over  the  world  and  attracted  valuable  addi- 
tions to  its  trades  and  professions.  Travelers,  scholars 
and  philosophers  came  to  study  the  causes  of  its  pros- 
perity, and  marvelous  stories  are  told  by  them  in  letters 
and  books  they  wrote  concerning  its  palaces,  temples 
and  markets.  An  envoy  from  the  Duke  of  Holstein  gives 
us  a  vivid  account  of  the  grandeur  of  the  city  and  the 
splendor  of  the  court,  and  tells  of  a  wedding,  at  which 
the  daughter  of  Ahmed  Shah  married  the  second  son  of 
the  grand  mogul.     She  carried  to  Delhi  as  her  dower 


158  MODERN   INDIA 

twenty  elepliants,  a  thousand  horses  and  six  thousand 
wagons  loaded  with  the  richest  stuffs  of  whatever  was 
rare  in  the  country.  The  household  of  the  rajah,  he  says, 
consisted  of  five  hundred  persons,  and  cost  him  five  thou- 
sand pounds  a  month  to  maintain,  "not  comprehending 
the  account  of  his  stables,  where  he  kept  five  hundred 
horses  and  fifty  elephants."  When  this  traveler  visited 
the  rajah  he  was  sitting  in  a  pavilion  in  his  garden,  clad 
in  a  white  vestment,  according  to  the  Indian  code,  over 
which  he  had  a  cloak  of  gold  "brocade,"  the  ground  color 
being  carnation  lined  with  white  satin,  and  above  it  was 
a  collar  of  sable,  whereof  the  skins  were  sewed  together 
so  that  the  tails  hung  over  down  his  back. 

Among  the  manufacturers  and  business  men  of  Ahme- 
dabad  in  those  days,  as  now,  were  many  Jains — the 
Quakers  of  India — who  belong  to  the  rich  middle  class. 
They  believe  in  peace,  and  are  so  tender-hearted  that  they 
will  not  even  kill  a  mosquito  or  a  flea.  They  are  great 
business  men,  however,  notwithstanding  their  soft  hearts, 
and  the  most  rapid  money-makers  in  the  empire.  They 
built  many  of  the  most  beautiful  temples  in  India,  in 
which  they  worship  a  kind  and  gentle  god  whose  attri- 
butes are  amiability,  benevolence  and  compassion.  The 
Jains  of  Ahmedabad  still  maintain  a  large  "pinjrapol," 
or  asylum  for  diseased  and  aged  animals,  with  about  800 
inmates,  decrepit  beasts  of  all  species,  by  which  they  ac- 
quire merit  with  their  god.  And  about  the  streets,  and. 
in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  sitting  on  the  tops  of  what  look 
like  telegraph  poles,  are  pigeon  houses ;  some  of  them 
ornamented  with  carving,  other  painted  in  gay  colors 
and  all  of  them  very  picturesque.  These  are  rest  houses 
for  birds,  which  the  Jains  have  built,  and  every  day  basins 
of  food  are  placed  in  them  for  the  benefit  of  the  hungry. 


THE  CITY  OF  AHMEDABAD  159 

In  the  groves  outside  of  the  city  are  thousands  of 
monkeys,  and  they  are  much  cleaner  and  more  respectable 
in  appearance  than  any  you  ever  saw  in  a  circus  or  a  zoo. 
They  are  as  large  as  Italian  greyhounds,  and  of  similar 
color,  with  long  hair  and  uncommonly  long  tails,  and  so 
tame  they  will  come  up  to  strangers  who  know  enough  to 
utter  a  call  that  they  understand.  Our  coachman  bought  a 
penny's  worth  of  sweet  bread  in  one  of  the  groceries  that 
we  passed,  and  Vi'hen  we  reached  the  first  grove  he 
uttered  a  cry  similar  to  that  which  New  England  dairy- 
men use  in  calling  their  cattle.  In  an  instant  monkeys 
began  to  drop  from  the  limbs  of  trees  that  overhang  the 
roadway,  and  came  scampering  from  the  corners,  where 
they  had  probably  been  indulging  in  noonday  naps.  In 
two  minutes  he  was  surrounded  by  thirty-eight  monkeys, 
which  leaped  and  capered  around  like  so  many  dogs  as  he 
held  the  sugar  cake  up  in  the  air  before  them.  It  was  a 
novel  sight.  These  monkeys  are  fed  regularly  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Jains,  and  none  of  God's  creatures  is  too 
insignificant  or  irritating  to  escape  their  comprehensive 
benevolence. 

One  of  the  temples  of  the  Jains,  the  Swamee  Narayan, 
as  they  call  it,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  is  considered 
the  noblest  modern  sacred  building  in  all  India.  It  is  a 
mass  of  elaborate  carving,  tessellated  marble  floors  and 
richly  colored  decorations,  150  feet  long  by  100  feet  wide, 
with  an  overhanging  roof  supported  by  eighty  columns, 
and  no  two  of  them  are  alike.  They  are  masses  of  carv- 
ing— figures  of  men  and  gods,  saints  and  demons,  ani- 
mals, insects,  fishes,  trees  and  flowers,  such  as  are  only 
seen  in  the  delirium  of  fever,  are  portrayed  with  the  most 
exquisite  taste  and  delicacy  upon  all  of  the  surface  ex- 
posed.    The   courtyard   is   inclosed   by   a   colonnade   of 


irx)  MODERN  INDIA 

beautifully  carved  columns,  upon  which  open  fifty  shrines 
with  pagoda  domes  about  twelve  feet  high,  and  in  each  of 
them  are  figures  of  Tirthankars,  or  saints  of  the  calendar 
of  the  Jains.  The  temple  is  dedicated  to  Dharmamath, 
a  sort  of  Jain  John  the  Baptist,  whose  image,  crowned 
with  diamonds  and  other  jewels,  sits  behind  a  beautiful 
gilded  screen. 

Ahmedabad  now  has  a  population  of  about  130,000. 
The  ancient  walls  which  inclose  it  are  in  excellent  preser- 
vation and  surround  an  area  of  about  two  square  miles. 
There  are  twelve  arched  gateways  with  heavy  teakwood 
doors  studded  with  long  brass  spikes  as  a  defense  against 
elephants,  which  in  olden  times  were  taught  to  batter 
down  such  obstructions  with  their  heads.  The  commerce 
of  the  city  has  declined  of  late  years,  but  the  people  are 
still  famous  for  objects  of  taste  and  ornament,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  experts,  their  '"chopped"  gold  is  "the  finest 
archaic  jewelry  in  India,"  almost  identical  in  shape  and 
design  with  the  ornaments  represented  upon  sculptured 
images  in  Assyria.  The  goldsmiths  make  all  kinds  of 
personal  adornments ;  necklaces,  bracelets,  anklets,  toe, 
finger,  nose  and  ear  rings,  girdles  and  arm-bands  of  gold, 
silver,  copper  and  brass,  and  this  jewelry  is  worn  by  the 
women  of  India  as  the  best  of  investments.  They  turn 
their  money  into  it  instead  of  patronizing  banks.  As  Mr. 
Micawber  would  have  expressed  it,  they  convert  their 
assets  into  portable  property. 

The  manufacture  of  gold  and  silver  thread  occupies  the 
attention  of  thousands  of  people,  and  hundreds  more  are 
engaged  in  weaving  this  thread  with  silk  into  brocades 
called  "kincobs,"  worn  by  rich  Hindus  and  sold  by  weight 
instead  of  by  measure.  They  are  practically  metallic 
cloth.     The  warp,  or  the  threads  running  one  way,  is  all 


THE  CITY  OF  AHMEDABAD  i6i 

either  gold  or  silver,  while  the  woof,  or  those  running 
the  other,  are  of  different  colored  silks,  and  the  patterns 
are  fashioned  with  great  taste  and  delicacy.  These  bro- 
cades wear  forever,  but  are  very  expensive.  A  coat  such 
as  a  rajah  or  a  rich  Hindu  must  wear  upon  an  occasion 
of  ceremony  is  worth  several  thousand  dollars.  Indeed, 
rajahs  have  had  robes  made  at  Ahmedabad  for  which  the 
cloth  alone  cost  $5,000  a  yard.  The  skill  of  the  wire 
drawers  is  amazing.  So  great  is  their  delicacy  of  touch 
that  they  can  make  a  thousand  yards  of  silver  thread  out 
of  a  silver  dollar ;  and  if  you  will  give  one  of  them  a 
sovereign,  in  a  few  moments  he  will  reel  off  a  spool  of 
gold  wire  as  fine  as  No.  80  cotton,  and  he  does  it  with  the 
simplest,  most  primitive  of  tools. 

Nearly  all  the  gold,  silver  and  tin  foil  used  in  India  is 
made  at  Ahmedabad,  also  in  a  primitive  way,  for  the 
metal  is  spread  between  sheets  of  paper  and  beaten  with 
a  heavy  hammer.  The  town  is  famous  for  its  pottery 
also,  and  for  many  other  manufactured  goods. 

The  artisans  are  organized  into  guilds,  like  those  of 
Europe  in  ancient  times,  with  rules  and  regulations  as 
strict  as  those  of  modern  trades  unions.  The  nagar-seth, 
or  Lord  Mayor,  of  Ahmedabad,  is  the  titular  head  of  all 
the  guilds,  and  presides  over  a  central  council  which  has 
jurisdiction  of  matters  of  common  interest.  But  each  of 
the  trades  has  its  own  organization  and  officers.  Mem- 
bership is  hereditary ;  for  in  India,  as  in  all  oriental 
countries,  it  is  customary  for  children  to  follow  the  trade 
or  profession  of  their  father.  If  an  outsider  desires  to 
join  one  of  the  guilds  he  is  compelled  to  comply  with  very 
rigid  regulations  and  pay  a  heavy  fee.  Some  of  the 
guilds  are  rich,  their  property  having  been  acquired  by 
fines,  fees  and  legacies,  and  they  loan  money  to  their  own 


i62  MODERN  INDIA 

members.  A  serious  crisis  confronts  the  guilds  of  Ahme- 
(labad  in  the  form  of  organized  capital  and  labor-saving 
machinery.  Until  a  few  years  ago  all  of  the  manufactur- 
ing was  done  in  the  households  by  hand  work.  Within 
recent  years  five  cotton  factories,  representing  a  capital 
of  more  than  $2,500,000,  have  been  established,  and 
furnish  labor  for  3,000  men,  women  and  children.  This 
innovation  was  not  opposed  by  the  guilds  because  its 
products  w^ould  come  into  direct  competition  only  with 
the  cotton  goods  of  England,  and  would  give  employment 
to  many  idle  people ;  but  now  that  silk  looms  and  other 
machinery  are  proposed  the  guilds  are  becoming  alarmed 
and  are  asking  where, the  intrusions  are  likely  to  stop. 

The  tombs  of  Ahmed,  and  Ganj  Bhash,  his  chaplain, 
or  spiritual  adviser,  a  saintly  mortal  who  admonished  him 
of  his  sins  and  kept  his  feet  in  the  path  that  leads  to 
paradise,  are  both  delightful,  if  such  an  adjective  can 
apply,  and  are  covered  with  exquisite  marble  embroidery, 
almost  incredible  in  its  perfection  of  detail.  It  is  such 
as  modern  sculptors  have  neither  the  audacity  or  the 
imagination  to  design  nor  the  skill  or  patience  to  execute. 
But  they  are  not  well  kept.  The  rozah,  or  courtyard,  in 
which  the  great  king  lies  sleeping,  surrounded  by  his 
wives,  his  children  and  other  members  of  his  family  and 
his  favorite  ministers,  is  not  cared  for.  It  is  dirty  and 
dilapidated. 

This  vision  of  frozen  music,  as  some  one  has  described 
it,  is  a  square  building  with  a  dome  and  walls  of  per- 
forated fretwork  in  marble  as  delicate  as  Jack  Frost  ever 
traced  upon  a  window  pane.  It  is  inclosed  by  a  crumbling 
wall  of  mud,  and  can  be  reached  only  through  a  narrow 
and  dirty  lane  obstructed  by  piles  of  rubbish,  and  the 
enjoyment   of   the   visitor   is   sometimes   destroyed   and 


HUTHI    SINGH'S    TOMB  —  AHMEDABAD 


THE  CITY  OF  AHMEDABAD  163 

always  seriously  interfered  with  by  the  importunities  of 
priests,  peddlers  and  beggars  who  pursue  him  for  back- 
sheesh. 

The  lane  from  the  mausoleum  leads  into  the  courtyard 
of  the  Jumma  Musjid,  a  mosque  erected  by  Ahmed  Shah 
at  the  height  of  his  power  and  glory.  It  is  considered 
one  of  the  most  stately  and  satisfactory  examples  of 
Saracenic  architecture. 

The  most  beautiful  piece  of  carving,  however,  in  this 
great  collection  is  a  window  in  a  deserted  mosque  called 
Sidi  Sayid.  Perhaps  you  are  familiar  with  it.  It  has 
been  photographed  over  and  over  again,  and  has  been 
copied  in  alabaster,  marble,  plaster  and  wax ;  it  has  been 
engraved,  photographed  and  painted,  and  is  used  in  text- 
books on  architecture  as  an  illustration  of  the  perfection 
reached  by  the  sculptors  of  India.  The  design  is  so  com- 
plicated that  I  cannot  describe  it,  but  the  central  features 
are  trees,  with  intertwining  boughs,  and  the  Hindu  who 
made  it  could  use  his  chisel  with  as  free  and  delicate  a 
hand  as  Raphael  used  his  brush.  Fergusson,  who  is 
recognized  as  the  highest  authority  on  architecture,  says 
that  it  is  "more  like  a  work  of  nature  than  any  other 
architectural  detail  that  has  yet  been  designed,  even  by 
the  best  masters  of  Greece  or  the  middle  ages."  Yet  the 
mosque  which  this  precious  gem  made  famous  is  aban- 
doned and  deserted,  and  the  courtyard  is  now  a  cow 
pasture. 


X 

JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA 

A  board  of  geographic  names,  similar  to  that  we  have 
in  Washington,  is  badly  needed  in  India  to  straighten  out 
discrepancies  in  the  nomenclature  on  the  maps.  I  was 
told  that  only  three  towns  in  all  the  vast  empire  have 
a  single  spelling ;  all  the  rest  have  several ;  some  have 
many ;  and  the  name  of  one  town — I  have  forgotten 
which — is  given  in  sixty-five  different  ways.  Jeypore, 
for  example,  is  given  in  fifteen.  The  sign  over  the  en- 
trance to  the  railway  station  reads  "Jeypure ;"  on  the 
lamps  that  light  the  platform  it  is  painted  "Jeypoor" ; 
on  the  railway  ticket  it  was  "Jaypur" ;  on  the 
bill  of  fare  in  the  refreshment-room  of  the  station  it 
was  "Jaipor" ;  on  a  telegram  delivered  by  the  operator  at 
the  station  it  was  spelled  "J^ip^"'"'"  If  ^^e  employes 
about  a  single  establishment  in  the  town  can  get  up  that 
number  of  spells,  what  are  we  to  expect  from  the  rest 
of  the  inhabitants  of  a  city  of  150,000  people,  and  Jeypore 
is  one  of  the  simplest  and  easiest  names  in  the  gazetteer. 
The  neighboring  city  of  Jodpore,  capital  of  the  adjoining 
native  state  of  Marwar,  offers  an  even  greater  variety  of 
orthoepy,  for  it  appears  in  a  different  spelling  on  each 
of  the  three  maps  I  carried  around — a  railway  map,  a 
government  map,  and  the  map  in  Murray's  Guide  Book. 
This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the  dissensions  over  nomen- 
clature, which  are  bewildering  to  a  stranger,  who  never 

164 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  165 

knows  when  he  gets  the  right  spelHng,  and  sometimes 
cannot  even  find  the  towns  he  is  looking  for. 

Jodpore  is  famous  for  its  forts,  which  present  an  im- 
posing appearance  from  a  wide  spreading  plain,  as  they 
are  perched  at  the  top  of  a  rocky  hill  three  hundred  feet 
high,  with  almost  perpendicular  sides.  The  only  way 
to  reach  it  is  by  a  zigzag  road  chiseled  out  of  the  cliff, 
which  leads  to  a  massive  gateway.  The  walls  are  twenty- 
eight  feet  high,  twenty-eight  feet  thick,  and  are  crowned 
with  picturesque  towers.  During  ascent  you  are  shown 
the  impressions  of  the  hands  of  the  fifteen  wives  of  one 
of  the  rajahs  who  were  all  burned  in  one  grand  holocaust 
upon  his  funeral  pyre.  I  don't  know  why  they  did  it, 
but  the  marks  are  there.  Within  the  walls  are  some  very 
interesting  old  palaces,  built  in  the  fifteenth  century,  of 
pure  Hindu  architecture,  and  the  carvings  and  perforated 
marble  work  are  of  the  most  delicate  and  beautiful  de- 
signs. The  treasury,  which  contains  the  family  jewels 
and  plate,  is  the  chief  object  of  tourist  curiosity,  and  they 
are  a  collection  worth  going  far  to  see.  The  pearls  and 
emeralds  are  especially  fine,  and  are  worth  millions.  The 
saddles,  bridles,  harness  and  other  stable  equipments  are 
loaded  with  gold  and  silver  ornaments  set  with  precious 
stones,  and  the  trappings  for  elephants  are  covered  with 
the  most  gorgeous  gold  and  silver  embroidery. 

About  half  a  mile  outside  the  city  walls  is  a  temple 
called  the  Maha  Mandir,  whose  roof  is  supported  by  a 
hundred  richly  decorated  columns.  On  each  side  of  it 
are  palaces  intended  exclusively  for  the  use  of  spirits  of 
former  rulers  of  the  country.  Their  beds  are  laid  out 
with  embroidery  coverings  and  lace,  sheltered  by  golden 
canopies  and  curtains  of  brocade,  but  are  never  slept 
in  by  living  people,  being  reserved  for  the  spirits  of  the 


i66  MODERN  INDIA 

dead.  This  is  the  only  exhibition  of  the  kind  to  be  seen 
in  India,  and  why  the  dead  and  gone  rulers  of  Marwar 
should  need  lodgings  when  those  of  the  other  Indian 
states  do  not,  is  an  unsolved  mystery. 

In  the  royal  cemetery,  three  miles  to  the  north,  rows 
of  beautiful  but  neglected  cenotaphs  mark  the  spots  where 
the  remains  of  each  of  some  300  rajahs  were  consumed 
with  their  widows.  Some  of  them  had  more  and  some 
less,  according  to  their  taste  and  opportunities,  and  sutti, 
or  widow  burning,  was  enforced  in  Jodpore  more  strictly 
than  anywhere  else  in  India.  You  can  imagine  the 
thoughts  this  extraordinary  place  suggests.  Within  its 
walls,  in  obedience  to  an  awful  and  relentless  custom,  not 
less  than  nine  hundred  or  a  thousand  innocent,  helpless 
women  were  burned  alive,  for  these  oriental  potentates 
certainly  must  have  allowed  themselves  at  least  three 
wives  each.  That  would  be  a  very  moderate  estimate. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  them  had  forty,  and  per- 
haps four  hundred,  and  we  know  that  one  had  fifteen. 
But  no  matter  how  many  times  a  rajah  went  to  the 
matrimonial  altar,  every  wife  that  outlived  him  was 
burned  upon  his  funeral  pyre  in  order  that  he  might 
enjoy  her  society  in  the  other  world.  Since  widow  burn- 
ing was  stopped  by  the  British  government  in  the  sixties, 
the  spirits  of  the  rajahs  of  Jodpore  have  since  been  com- 
pelled to  go  to  paradise  without  company.  But  they  do 
not  take  any  chances  of  offending  the  deities  by  neglect, 
for  on  a  hill  that  overlooks  their  cemetery  they  have 
erected  a  sort  of  sweepstakes  temple  to  Three  Hundred 
Million  Gods. 

At  the  palace  of  the  rajah  of  Ulwar,  in  a  city  of  the 
same  name,  sometimes  spelled  Alwar  and  in  forty  other 
different  ways,  w^hich  lies  about  thirty  miles  north  of 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  167 

Jodpore,  is  another  collection  of  jewels,  ranked  among 
the  finest  in  India.  The  treasure-house  contains  several 
great  chests  of  teakwood,  handsomely  carved  and  gilded, 
bound  with  gold  and  silver  bands,  and  filled  with  valuable 
plate,  arms,  equipment,  vessels  and  ornaments  that  have 
accumulated  in  the  family  during  several  centuries,  and 
no  matter  how  severe  the  plague  or  how  many  people  are 
dying  of  famine,  these  precious  heirlooms  have  never  been 
disturbed.  Perhaps  the  most  valuable  piece  of  the  collec- 
tion is  a  drinking  cup,  cut  from  a  single  emerald,  as  large 
as  those  used  for  after  dinner  coffee.  There  is  a  ruby 
said  to  be  one  of  the  largest  in  existence  and  worth 
$750,000 ;  a  yellow  diamond  valued  at  $100,000 ;  several 
strings  of  almost  priceless  pearls  and  other  jewels  of 
similar  value.  There  are  caskets  of  gold  and  ivory  in 
which  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  jewels 
are  imbedded,  perfumery  bottles  of  solid  gold  with  the 
surfaces  entirely  incrusted  with  pearls  and  diamonds, 
and  hung  upon  the  walls  around  the  apartment  are  shawls 
that  are  worth  a  thousand  times  their  weight  in  gold. 
The  saddles,  harness  and  elephant  trappings  are  much 
more  beautiful  and  costly  than  those  at  Jodpore,  and  in 
the  adjoining  armory  is  a  remarkable  collection  of 
swords  and  other  weapons  with  hilts  of  gold,  jade, 
enamel  and  jewels.  A  coat  of  mail  worn  by  Bani  Singh, 
grandfather  of  the  present  rajah,  is  made  of  solid  gold, 
weighing  sixteen  and  a  half  pounds,  and  is  lavishly 
decorated  with  diamonds.  The  library  is  rich  in  rare 
oriental  books  and  manuscripts  wonderfully  illuminated 
in  colors  and  gold.  It  has  a  large  collection  of  editions 
of  the  Koran  in  fifty  or  more  different  languages,  and  one 
manuscript  book  called  "The  Gulistan"  is  claimed  to  be 
the  most  valuable  volume  in  India.     The  librarian  in- 


i68  MODERN  INDIA 

sisted  that  it  is  worth  50o,cxx)  rupees,  which  is  equivalent 
to  about  $170,000,  and  declared  that  the  actual  cost  of 
the  gold  used  in  illuminating  it  was  more  than  $50,000. 
It  is  a  modern  manuscript  copy  of  a  religious  poem,  made 
in  1848  by  a  German  scribe  at  the  order  of  the  Maharaja 
Bani  Singh.  The  miniatures  and  other  pictures  were 
painted  by  a  native  artist  at  Delhi,  and  the  ornamental 
scroll  work  upon  the  margins  of  the  pages  and  the  initial 
letters  were  done  by  a  resident  of  Ulwar. 

Nearly  all  of  the  capitals  of  the  provinces  of  Rajputana 
have  similar  treasures,  the  accumulations  of  centuries, 
and  it  seems  like  criminal  negligence  to  keep  such  enor- 
mous sums  of  money  tied  up  in  jewels  and  useless  orna- 
ments when  they  might  be  expended  or  invested  to  the 
great  advantage  of  the  people  in  public  works  and  manu- 
factories. Some  of  the  towns  need  such  industries  very 
badly  because,  off  the  farms,  there  is  nothing  in  the  way 
of  employment  for  either  men  or  women,  and  every 
branch  of  agriculture  is  overcrowded.  One  may  moralize 
about  these  conditions  as  long  as  he  likes ;  however, 
changes  occur  very  slowly  in  India,  and  as  Kipling  so 
pertinently  puts  it  in  one  of  his  poems,  it's  only  a  fool 
"Who  tries  to  hustle  the  East." 

Jeypore  is  the  best,  the  largest  and  most  prosperous 
of  the  twenty  Rajput  capitals,  and  is  beyond  comparison 
the  finest  modern  city  in  India.  It  is  also  the  busiest. 
Everybody  seems  to  have  plenty  to  do,  and  plenty  to 
spend.  The  streets  are  as  crowded  and  as  busy  as  those 
of  London  or  New  York,  with  a  bustling  and  stalwart 
race  of  men  and  women,  happy  and  contented,  and  show- 
ing more  energy  than  you  often  see  in  an  oriental  country. 
The  climate  is  cool,  dry  and  healthful.  The  city  stands 
upon  a  sandy  and  arid  plain,  1,600  feet  above  the  sea, 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  169 

surrounded  by  stony  hills  and  wide  wastes  of  desert,  but 
even  these  natural  disadvantages  have  contributed  to  its 
wealth  and  industries,  for  the  barren  hills  are  filled  with 
deposits  of  fine  clays,  rare  ores  and  cheap  jewels  like 
garnets,  carbuncles  and  agates,  which  have  furnished  the 
people  one  of  their  most  profitable  trades.  Out  of  this 
material  they  make  an  enamel  which  is  famous  every- 
where, and  has  been  the  source  of  great  gain  and  fame. 
It  is  shipped  in  large  quantities  to  Europe,  but  the  greater 
part  is  sold  in  the  markets  of  India. 

Jeypore  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  twenty  feet  high  and 
nine  feet  thick,  built  within  the  last  century,  and  hence 
almost  in  perfect  condition.  Indeed  the  town,  unlike 
most  of  the  Indian  cities,  is  entirely  without  ruins,  and 
you  have  to  ride  five  miles  on  the  back  of  an  elephant 
in  order  to  see  one.  The  streets  are  wide  and  well  paved, 
and  laid  out  at  exact  angles.  Four  great  thoroughfares 
III  feet  wide  run  at  equal  intervals  at  right  angles  with 
each  other.  All  the  other  streets  are  fifty-five  feet  wide 
and  the  alleys  are  twenty-eight  feet.  Parks  and  public 
squares  are  laid  out  with  the  same  regularity,  and  the 
houses  are  of  uniform  heights  and  generally  after  the 
same  pattern.  The  fagades  are  almost  fantastic,  being 
covered  profusely  with  stucco  and  "ginger-bread  work," 
so  much  that  it  is  almost  bewildering.  The  roofs  are 
guarded  by  highly  ornamental  balustrades  that  look  like 
perforated  marble,  but  are  only  molded  plaster ;  the  win- 
dows are  filled  with  similar  material ;  the  doorways  are 
usually  arched  and  protected  with  overhanging  canopies, 
and  the  doors  are  painted  with  pictures  in  brilliant  colors. 
The  entire  city  has  been  "whitewashed"  a  bright  rose 
color,  every  house  having  almost  the  same  tint,  which 
gives  a  peculiar  appearance.    There  is  nothing  else  like  it 


ijo  MODERN  INDIA 

in  all  the  world.  The  outer  walls  of  many  of  the  houses 
arc  painted  with  pictures  of  animals  and  birds,  trees, 
pagodas  and  other  fantastic  designs,  and  scenes  like  those 
on  the  drop  curtains  of  theatres,  which  appear  to  have 
been  done  by  unskilled  amateurs,  and  the  whole  effect — ^^ 
the  colors,  the"  gingerbread  work  and  the  tints — reminds 
you  of  the  frosted  cakes  and  other  table  decorations  you 
sometimes  see  in  confectioners'  windows  at  Christmas 
time.  You  wonder  that  the  entire  city  does  not  melt  and 
run  together  under  the  heat  of  the  burning  sun.  The  peo- 
ple wear  colors  even  more  brilliant  than  those  of  their 
houses,  and  in  whichever  direction  you  look  you  see  con- 
tinual streams  passing  up  and  down  each  broad  highway 
like  animated  rainbows,  broken  here  and  there  by  trains 
of  loaded  camels,  huge  elephants  with  fanciful  canopies 
on  their  backs  and  half-naked  Hindus  astride  their  heads, 
guiding  them.  Jeypore  was  the  first  place  we  found 
elephants  used  for  business  purposes,  and  they  seemed 
to  be  quite  numerous — more  numerous  than  horses — and 
some  of  them  were  covered  with  elaborate  trappings  and 
saddles,  and  had  their  heads  painted  in  gay  tints  and 
designs.  That  was  a  new  idea  also,  which  I  had  never 
seen  before,  and  I  was  told  that  it  is  peculiar  to  Jeypore. 
The  bullock  carts,  which  furnish  the  only  other  means 
of  transportation,  are  also  gayly  painted.  The  designs 
are  sometimes  rude  and  the  execution  bears  evidence  of 
having  been  done  with  more  zeal  than  skill.  The  artist 
got  the  giddiest  colors  he  could  find,  and  laid  them  on 
without  regard  to  time  or  expense.  The  wheels,  bodies 
and  tongues  of  the  carts,  and  the  canopies  that  cover 
those  in  which  women  are  carried,  are  nightmares  of  yel- 
lows, greens,  blues,  reds  and  purples,  like  cheap  wooden 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  171 

toys.  Everything  artificial  at  Jeypore  is  as  bright  and 
gay  as  dyes  and  paint  can  make  it. 

A  great  deal  of  cloth  is  manufactured  there,  both  cot- 
ton and  silk;  most  of  it  in  little  shops  opening  on  the 
sidewalk,  and  it  is  woven  and  dyed  by  hand  where  every- 
body can  see  that  the  work  is  honestly  done.  As  you 
walk  along  the  business  part  of  town  you  will  see  women 
and  children  holding  long  strips  of  red,  green,  orange, 
purple  or  blue  cloth — sometimes  cotton  and  sometimes 
silk,  fresh  from  the  vats  of  dye,  out  of  the  dust,  in  the 
sunshine,  until  the  colors  are  securely  fastened  in  the 
fibers.  Even  the  men  paint  their  whiskers  in  fantastic 
colors.  It  is  rather  startling  to  come  up  against  an  old 
gentleman  with  a  long  beard  the  color  of  an  orange  or  a 
spitzenberg  apple.  You  imagine  they  are  lunatics,  but 
they  are  only  pious  Mohammedans  anxious  to  imitate  the 
Prophet,  who,  according  to  tradition,  had  red  whiskers. 

About  half  of  the  space  of  the  four  wide  streets  is 
given  up  to  sidewalk  trading,  and  rows  of  booths,  two  or 
three  miles  in  length,  occupy  the  curbstones,  with  all 
kinds  of  goods ;  everything  that  anybody  could  possibly 
want,  fruits,  vegetables,  groceries,  provisions,  boots  and 
shoes,  ready-made  clothing,  hats  and  caps,  cotton  goods 
and  every  article  of  wearing  apparel  you  can  think  of, 
household  articles,  furniture,  drugs  and  medicines,  jew- 
elry, stationery,  toys — everything  is  sold  by  these  side- 
walk merchants,  who  squat  upon  a  piece  of  matting  with 
their  stock  neatly  piled  around  them. 

One  feature  of  the  street  life  in  Jeypore,  however,  is 
likely  to  make  nervous  people  apprehensive.  The 
maharaja  and  other  rich  men  keep  panthers,  leopards, 
wildcats  and'  other  savage  beasts  trained  for  tiger  hunt- 
ing and  other  sporting  purposes,  and  allow  their  grooms 


172  MODERN  INDIA 

to  lead  them  around  through  the  crowded  thoroughfares 
just  as  though  they  were  poodle  dogs.  It  is  true  that 
the  brutes  wear  muzzles,  but  you  do  not  like  the  casual 
way  they  creep  up  behind  you  and  sniff  at  the  calves  of 
your  legs. 

Siwai  Madhao  Singh,  Maharaja  of  Jeypore,  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  persons  in  India,  and  he  represents 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty-third  of  his  family,  which  is 
ants  of  the  hero  of  a  great  Sanskrit  epic  called  the 
Ramayana,  while  the  emperor  of  Japan  represents  only 
the  one  hundred  and  twenty-third  of  his  family,  which  is 
reckoned  the  oldest  of  royal  blood.  The  poem  consists 
of  24,000  stanzas,  arranged  in  seven  books,  and  describes 
the  adventures  and  sets  forth  the  philosophy  of  Rama,  the 
seventh  incarnation  of  Vishnu,  one  of  the  two  greatest 
of  the  gods. 

Siwai  Madhao  Singh  is  proud  of  his  ancestry,  proud 
of  his  ancient  faith,  proud  of  the  traditions  of  his  race, 
and  adheres  with  scrupulous  conservatism  to  the  customs 
and  the  manners  of  his  forefathers.  At  the  same  time 
he  is  very  progressive,  and  Jeypore,  his  capital,  has  the 
best  modern  museum,  the  best  hospital,  the  best  college, 
the  best  industrial  and  art  school,  and  the  largest  school 
for  girls  among  all  the  native  states  of  India,  and  is 
more  progressive  than  any  other  Indian  city  except  Cal- 
cutta and  Bombay.  The  maharaja  was  selected  to  repre- 
sent the  native  princes  at  the  coronation  of  King  Edward, 
and  at  first  declined  to  go  because  he  could  not  leave 
India  for  a  foreign  country  without  losing  caste.  When 
the  reasons  for  his  selection  had  been  explained  to  him, 
and  he  was  informed  that  his  refusal  must  be  construed 
as  an  act  of  disrespect  to  his  sovereign,  he  decided  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  waive  his  religious  scruples  and  other 


MAHARAJA    OF    JEVPORE    AND    HIS    PRIME    MINISTER 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  173 

objections  and  show  his  esteem  and  loyalty  for  the 
Emperor  of  India.  But  he  could  not  go  without  great 
preparation.  He  undertook  to  protect  himself  as  much 
as  possible  from  foreign  influences  and  temptations,  and 
adhered  as  strictly  as  circumstances  would  allow  to  the 
requirements  of  his  caste  and  religion.  He  chartered  a 
ship  to  carry  him  from  Bombay  to  London  and  back ; 
loaded  it  with  native  food  supplies  sufficient  to  last  him 
and  his  party  for  six  months,  and  a  six  months'  supply 
of  water  from  the  sacred  Ganges  for  cooking  and  drink- 
ing purposes.  His  preparations  were  as  extensive  and 
complete  as  if  he  were  going  to  etablish  a  colony  on  some 
desert  island.  He  was  attended  by  about  150  persons, 
including  priests,  who  carried  their  gods,  altars,  incense, 
gongs,  records,  theological  works,  and  all  the  appurte- 
nances required  to  set  up  a  Hindu  temple  in  London.  He 
had  his  own  stewards,  cooks  and  butchers — servants  of 
every  kind — and,  of  course,  a  good  supply  of  wives  and 
dancing  girls.  A  temporary  temple  was  set  up  on  the 
dock  in  Bombay  before  sailing,  and  Rama,  his  divine  an- 
cestor, was  worshiped  continuously  for  two  weeks  by  the 
maharaja's  priests  in  order  to  secure  his  beneficent  favor 
on  the  voyage.  When  London  was  reached  the  entire 
outfit  was  transferred  to  a  palace  allotted  to  his  use,  and 
such  an  establishment  as  he  maintained  there  was  never 
seen  in  the  world's  metropolis  before. 

Siwai  Madhao  Singh  was  received  with  distinguished 
honors  by  the  king,  the  court,  the  ministry,  the  statesmen 
and  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests  of  England. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  persons  at  the  cor- 
onation, and  if  he  had  been  trained  from  childhood  for 
the  part  he  could  not  have  conducted  himself  with  greater 
grace  and  dignity.     Everybody  was  delighted  with  him, 


174  MODERN  INDIA 

and  he  was  dclij^htcd  with  his  reception.  He  returned 
to  Jeypore  filled  with  new  ideas  and  inspired  with  new 
ambitions  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  people,  and  al- 
though he  had  previously  shown  remarkable  capacity  for 
government  he  feels  that  his  experience  and  the  knowl- 
edge he  acquired  during  his  journey  were  of  inestimable 
value  to  him.  One  of  the  results  is  a  determination  to 
send  his  sons  to  England  to  be  educated,  because  he  feels 
that  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  them  and  to  the  people 
over  whom  they  must  some  time  rule,  to  deprive  them  of 
the  advantages  offered  by  English  institutions  and  by 
association  with  the  people  that  he  desires  them  to  meet. 
Caste  is  no  longer  an  objection.  The  maharaja  has 
broken  caste  without  suffering  any  disadvantage,  and 
has  discovered  that  other  considerations  are  more  im- 
portant. He  has  learned  by  actual  personal  experience 
that  the  prejudices  of  his  race  and  religion  against  travel 
and  association  with  foreigners  has  done  an  immeasur- 
able amount  of  injustice.  He  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes 
how  the  great  men  of  England  live  and  prosper  without 
caste,  and  is  willing  to  do  like  them.  They  do  not  believe 
in  it.  They  regard  it  as  a  narrow,  unjust  and  incon- 
venient restriction,  and  he  is  partially  convinced  that  they 
are  right.  The  most  distinctive  feature  of  Hindu  civili- 
zation thus  received  a  blow  from  which  it  can  never 
recover,  because  Siwai  Madhao  Singh  is  recognized  as 
one  of  the  ablest,  wisest  and  most  sincere  of  all  the  Hindu 
princes,  and  his  influence  in  this  and  as  in  other  things  is 
almost  unlimited.  He  expects  to  go  to  England  again. 
He  desires  to  visit  other  countries  also,  because  he  realizes 
that  he  can  learn  much  that  is  of  value  to  him  and  to  his 
people  by  studying  the  methods  and  the  affairs  of  foreign 
nations. 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  175 

In  November,  1902,  when  Lord  Curzon  visited  Jeypore, 
a  banquet  was  given  in  his  honor,  at  which  the  maharaja 
made  a  remarkable  speech,  alluding  to  his  experience  in 
England  and  the  benefit  he  derived  from  that  visit.  In 
reply  Lord  Curzon  said :  "When  I  persuaded  Your 
Highness  to  go  to  England  as  the  chosen  representative 
of  Rajputana  at  the  coronation  of  the  king,  you  felt  some 
hesitation  as  to  the  sharp  separation  from  your  home  and 
from  the  duties  and  the  practices  of  your  previous  life. 
But  you  have  returned  fortified  with  the  conviction  that 
dignity  and  simplicity  of  character,  and  uprightness  and 
magnanimity  of  conduct  are  esteemed  by  the  nobility  and 
the  people  of  England  not  less  than  they  are  here.  I  hope 
that  Your  Highness'  example  may  be  followed  by  those 
who  come  after  you,  and  that  it  may  leave  an  enduring 
mark  in  Indian  history." 

The  palace  and  gardens  of  the  maharaja  cover  one- 
seventh  of  the  entire  area  of  the  city  of  Jeypore,  and  are 
inclosed  within  a  mighty  wall,  which  is  entered  through 
several  stately  gates.  The  only  portion  of  the  palace 
visible  from  the  street  is  called  the  Hawal  Mahal,  or 
"Hall  of  the  Winds,"  which  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  glowing 
pen  describes  as  "a  vision  of  daring  and  dainty  loveli- 
ness, nine  stories  of  rosy  masonry,  delicate  overhanging 
balconies  and  latticed  windows,  soaring  tier  after  tier  of 
fanciful  architecture,  a  very  mountain  of  airy  and  auda- 
cious beauty,  through  a  thousand  pierced  screens  and 
gilded  arches.  Aladdin's  magician  could  have  called  into 
existence  no  more  marvelous  an  abode,  nor  was  the  pearl 
and  silver  palace  of  the  Peri  more  delicately  charming." 

Those  who  have  had  the  opportunity  to  compare  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold's  descriptions  with  the  actual  objects  in 
Japan,  India  and  elsewhere  are  apt  to  give  a  liberal  allow- 


176  MODERN  INDIA 

ance  to  his  statements.  He  may  be  an  accomplished  poet, 
but  he  cannot  see  straight.  He  looks  at  everything 
through  rose-colored  magnifying  glasses.  The  Hall  of 
the  Winds  is  a  picturesque  and  unique  piece  of  Hindu 
architecture.  It  looks  like  the  frosting  on  a  confectioners' 
cake.  But  it  is  six  instead  of  nine  stories  in  height,  is 
made  of  the  cheapest  sort  of  stucco,  and  covered  with 
deep  pink  calcimine.  It  is  the  residence  of  the  ladies  of 
the  harem,  or  zenana,  as  that  mysterious  part  of  a  house- 
hold is  called  in  India. 

The  palace  of  the  maharaja  is  a  noble  building,  but 
very  ornate,  and  is  furnished  with  the  most  tawdry  and 
inappropriate  French  hangings  and  furniture.  It  is  a 
pity  that  His  Highness  did  not  allow  his  own  taste  to 
prevail,  and  use  nothing  but  native  furniture  and  fabrics. 
His  garden  is  lovely,  being  laid  out  in  the  highest  style 
of  Hindu  landscape  art.  At  the  foot  of  the  grounds  is  a 
great  marble  building,  open  on  all  sides,  with  a  pictur- 
esque roof  sustained  by  a  multitude  of  columns,  which 
is  the  public  or  audience  hall,  where  His  Highness  re- 
ceives his  subjects  and  conducts  affairs  of  ceremony. 
Behind  it  is  a  relic  of  some  of  his  semi-barbarous  an- 
cestors in  the  form  of  a  tank,  in  which  a  lot  of  loath- 
some crocodiles  are  kept  for  the  amusement  of  people 
who  like  that  sort  of  thing.  They  are  looked  after  by  a 
venerable,  half-naked  old  Hindu,  who  calls  them  up  to 
the  terrace  by  uttering  a  peculiar  cry,  and,  when  they 
poke  their  ugly  noses  out  of  the  water  and  crawl  up  the 
steps,  teases  them  with  dainty  morsels  he  has  obtained  at 
the  nearest  slaughter-house.  It  is  not  a  soul-lifting 
spectacle. 

The  stables  are  more  interesting.  The  maharaja  main- 
tains the  elephant  stud  of  his  ancestors,  and  has  altogether 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  177 

about  eighty  monsters,  which  are  used  for  heavy  work 
about  the  palace  grounds  and  for  travehng  in  the  country. 
In  the  stud  are  two  enormous  savage  beasts,  which  fight 
duels  for  the  entertainment  of  the  maharaja  and  his 
guests.  These  duels  take  place  in  a  paddock  where 
horses  are  exercised.  His  Highness  has  erected  a  Httle 
kiosk,  in  which  he  can  sit  sheltered  from  the  sun  while 
the  sport  goes  on.  He  also  has  a  lot  of  leopards,  panthers 
and  cheetahs  (Hindu  wildcats),  trained  like  dogs  for 
hunting  purposes,  and  are  said  to  be  as  useful  and  intelli- 
gent as  Gordon  setters.  He  frequently  takes  a  party  of 
friends  into  the  jungle  for  tiger  shooting,  and  uses  these 
tame  beasts  to  scare  up  the  game. 

He  is  fond  of  horses  and  has  300  breeding  mares  and 
stallions  kept  in  long  stables  opening  upon  the  paddock 
in  which  they  are  trained.  Each  horse  has  a  coolie  to 
look  after  it,  for  no  coolie  could  possibly  attend  to  more 
than  one.  The  man  has  nothing  else  to  do.  He  sleeps 
on  the  straw  in  the  stall  of  the  animal,  and  seldom  leaves 
it  for  a  moment  from  the  time  he  is  assigned  to  the  duty 
until  his  services  are  no  longer  required.  The  maharaja 
has  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  and  taken  a  great  deal 
of  pains  to  improve  the  stock  of  his  subjects,  both  horses 
and  cattle.  He  has  an  experimental  farm  for  encourag- 
ing agriculture  and  teaching  the  people,  and  a  horticul- 
tural garden  of  seventy  acres,  with  a  menagerie,  in  which 
are  a  lot  of  beautiful  tigers  captured  by  his  own  men 
upon  his  own  estates  within  twelve  miles  of  town.  They 
catch  a  good  many  tigers  alive,  and  one  of  his  amiable 
habits  is  to  present  them  to  his  friends  and  people  whom 
he  desires  to  honor. 

In  the  center  of  the  horticultural  garden  stands  one  of 
the  noblest  modern  buildings  in  India,  a  museum  which 


178  MODERN  INDIA 

the  maharaja  established  several  years  ago  for  the  per- 
manent exhibition  of  the  arts  and  industries  of  his  people, 
who  are  very  highly  skilled  in  metal  and  loom  work  of 
all  kinds,  in  sculpture,  enameling,  in  making  jewelry  of 
gold  and  silver,  and  varieties  of  glass  work.  At  great 
expense  he  has  assembled  samples  of  similar  work  from 
other  countries  in  order  that  his  subjects  may  have  the 
benefit  of  comparing  it  with  their  own,  and  in  connection 
with  the  museum  has  established  a  school  of  art  and  in- 
dustry. This  at  present  has  between  five  and  six  hun- 
dred students  receiving  instruction  in  the  arts  and  in- 
dustries in  which  the  people  of  Jeypore  have  always 
excelled.  The  museum  is  called  Albert  Hall,  in  honor  of 
the  King  of  England,  and  the  park  is  christened  in  mem- 
ory of  the  late  Earl  of  Mayo,  who,  while  Viceroy  of 
India,  became  an  intimate  friend  and  revered  adviser  of 
the  father  of  the  maharaja.  An  up-to-date  hospital  with 
a  hundred  beds  is  named  ^Mayo  Hospital. 

The  Maharaja's  College  is  another  institution  which 
has  been  established  by  this  public-spirited  and  progres- 
sive Hindu,  who  has  done  more  for  the  education  of  his 
people  than  any  other  native  prince.  There  are  now 
about  1,000  students,  with  a  faculty  of  eighty-two  profes- 
sors, including  fifteen  Englishmen  and  twelve  Persians. 
The  college  is  affiliated  with  the  University  of  Calcutta, 
and  has  the  best  reputation  of  any  institution  of  learning 
among  the  native  states.  But  even  higher  testimony  to 
the  liberality  and  progressive  spirit  of  this  prince  is  a 
school  for  the  education  of  women.  It  is  only  of  recent 
years  that  the  women  in  India  were  considered  worth 
educating,  and  even  now  only  about  half  a  million  in  this 
vast  country,  with  a  female  population  of  150,000,000, 
can  read  and  write.     But  the  upper  classes  are  gradually 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  179 

beginning  to  realize  the  advantage  of  educating  their 
girls,  and  the  Maharaja  of  Jeypore  was  one  of  the  first 
to  establish  a  school  for  that  purpose,  which  now  has 
between  700  and  800  girls  under  the  instruction  of 
English  and  native  teachers. 

We  had  great  fun  at  Jeypore,  and  saw  many  curious 
and  interesting  things,  for  it  is  the  liveliest  and  most  at- 
tractive place  we  found  in  India,  with  the  greatest  number 
of  novelties  and  distinctive  local  color.  We  went  about 
day  after  day  like  a  lot  of  lunatics,  kodaks  in  hand,  taking 
snap-shots  at  all  the  odd  looking  characters — and  their 
name  is  legion — that  we  saw  in  the  strees,  and  it  was  an 
unusual  experience.  Everybody  hasn't  an  opportunity  to 
photograph  a  group  of  elephants  in  full  regalia  carrying 
their  owners'  wives  or  daughters  on  shopping  excur- 
sions or  to  visit  friends — of  course  we  didn't  know 
which.  And  that  is  only  one  of  the  many  unusual  spec- 
tacles that  visitors  to  Jeypore  may  see  in  every  direction 
they  choose  to  look.  The  gay  raiment  worn  by  the 
women  and  the  men,  the  fantastic  designs  painted  upon 
the  walls  of  the  houses  and  the  bullock  carts,  are  a  never- 
ending  delight,  for  they  are  absolutely  unique,  and  the 
latter  ought  to  be  placed  on  pedestals  in  museums  instead 
of  being  driven  about  for  ordinary  transportation  pur- 
poses. The  yokes  of  the  oxen  are  carved  with  fanciful 
designs ;  everything  is  yellow  or  orange  or  red.  Even 
the  camels  are  draped  with  long  nettings  and  fringes  and 
tassels  that  reach  from  their  humps  to  their  heels.  The 
decorative  idea  seems  to  prevail  over  everything  in  Jey- 
pore. Nothing  is  without  an  ornament,  no  matter  how 
humble  its  purpose  or  how  cheap  its  material  or  mechan- 
ism, its  owner  embellishes  as  much  as  money  and  imagina- 


i8o  MODERN    INDIA 

tion  will  allow.  Everylhing  pays  tribute  to  the  esthetic 
sense  of  the  people. 

The  bullocks  are  lean  animals  of  cream  color,  with  long 
legs,  and  trot  over  the  road  like  horses,  making  four  or 
five  miles  an  hour.  Instead  of  carrying  a  bit  in  their 
mouths,  the  reins  are  attached  to  a  little  piece  of  iron 
that  passes  through  a  hole  in  the  cartilage  of  the  nose, 
and  the  traces  which  draw  the  load  spring  from  a  collar 
that  resembles  a  yoke.  Most  of  the  hauling  is  done  by 
these  animals.  They  are  used  for  every  purpose  that 
we  use  horses  and  mules.  Cows  are  never  yoked.  They 
are  sacred.  The  religion  of  the  Hindu  prohibits  him 
from  subjecting  them  to  labor.  They  are  used  for  milk- 
ing and  breeding,  and  are  allowed  to  run  at  large.  No- 
body dare  injure  a  cow  or  even  treat  it  unkindly.  It 
would  be  as  great  a  sin  as  kicking  a  congressman.  A 
learned  pundit  told  me  the  other  day  how  it  happened 
that  cows  became  so  highly  esteemed  in  India.  Of 
course  he  did  not  pretend  to  have  been  on  the  spot,  but 
had  formed  a  theory  from  reading,  study  and  reflection, 
and  by  that  same  method  all  valuable  theories  are  pro- 
duced. He  said  that  once  upon  a  time  cattle  became 
scarce  because  of  an  epidemic  which  carried  many  of 
them  oflF,  and  in  order  to  recover  their  numbers  and  pro- 
tect them  from  slaughter  by  the  people  some  raja  per- 
suaded the  Brahmins  to  declare  them  sacred.  Every- 
thing that  a  Brahmin  says  goes  in  India,  and  the  taboo 
placed  upon  those  cows  was  passed  along  until  it  ex- 
tended over  the  entire  empire  and  has  never  been  re- 
moved. I  suppose  we  might  apply  the  same  theory  to 
the  sacred  bulls  of  Egypt. 

We  took  our  first  elephant  ride  one  morning  to  visit 
Amber,   the    ancient   but   now    deserted   capital   of   the 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  i8i 

province  of  Jeypore,  where  tens  of  millions  of  dollars 
were  wasted  in  the  construction  of  splendid  palaces  and 
mansions  that  are  now  abandoned,  and  standing  open  and 
empty,  most  of  them  in  good  condition,  to  the  enjoyment 
of  tourists  only  and  an  occasional  party  of  pilgrims  at- 
tracted hither  by  sacred  associations.  The  reason  alleged 
for  abandoning  the  place  was  the  lack  of  pure  water. 

The  maharaja  usually  furnishes  elephants  for  visitors 
to  his  capital  to  ride  around  on.  We  are  told  that  he 
delights  to  do  it  because  of  his  good  heart  and  the  number 
of  idle  monsters  in  his  stable  who  have  to  be  exercised 
daily,  and  might  as  well  be  toting  tourists  about  the 
country  as  wandering  around  with  nobody  on  their  backs. 
But  a  certain  amount  of  ceremony  and  delay  is  involved 
in  the  transaction  of  borrowing  an  elephant  from  an 
Indian  prince,  hence  we  preferred  to  hire  one  from  Mr. 
Zoroaster,  who  keeps  a  big  shop  full  of  beautiful  brass 
and  enamel  work,  makes  Indian  rugs  and  all  sorts  of 
things  and  exerts  a  hypnotic  influence  over  American 
millionaires.  One  American  millionaire,  who  was  over 
there  a  few  days  ahead  of  us,  evidently  came  very  near 
buying  out  Mr.  Zoroaster,  who  shows  his  order  book 
with  great  pride,  and  a  certain  estimable  American  lady, 
who  owns  a  university  on  the  Pacific  slope,  recently 
bought  enough  samples  of  Indian  art  work  from  him  to 
fill  the  museum  connected  with  that  institution.  Mr. 
Zoroaster  will  show  you  the  inventory  of  her  purchases 
and  the  prices  she  paid,  and  will  tell  you  in  fervent  tones 
what  a  good  woman  she  is,  and  what  remarkable  taste 
she  has,  and  what  rare  judgment  she  shows  in  the  selec- 
tion of  articles  from  his  stock  to  illustrate  the  industrial 
arts  of  India.  He  charged  us  fifteen  rupees,  which  is 
equivalent  to  five  dollars  in  American  money,  more  or 


i82  MODERN  INDIA 

less,  according  to  tlie  fluctuations  of  exchange,  for  an 
elephant  to  carry  us  out  to  Amber,  six  miles  and  a  half. 
We  have  since  been  told  that  we  should  have  paid  but 
ten  rupees,  and  some  persons  assert  that  eight  was  plenty, 
and  various  other  insinuations  have  been  made  concern- 
ing the  way  in  which  Mr.  Zoroaster  imposed  upon  inno- 
cent American  globe  trotters,  and  there  was  plenty  of 
people  who  kept  reminding  us  that  we  might  have 
obtained  an  elephant  for  nothing.  But  Zoroaster  is  all 
right;  his  elephants  are  all  right;  the  mahouts  who 
steer  them  are  all  right,  and  it  is  worth  fifteen  rupees  to 
ride  to  Amber  on  the  back  of  a  great,  big  clumsy  beast, 
although  you  don't  realize  it  at  the  time. 

Beginners  usually  do  not  like  the  sensation  of  elephant 
riding.  Young  girls  giggle,  mature  ladijes  squeal,  middle- 
aged  men  grab  hold  of  something  firm  and  say  nothing, 
while  impenitent  sinners  often  express  themselves  in 
terms  that  cannot  properly  be  published.  The  acute 
trouble  takes  place  just  after  mounting  the  beast  and  just 
before  leaving  the  lofty  perch  occupied  by  passengers  on 
his  back.  A  saddle  is  placed  upon  his  upper  deck,  a  sort 
of  saw-horse,  and  the  lower  legs  stretch  at  an  angle  suffi- 
ciently obtuse  to  encompass  his  breadth  of  beam.  This 
saw-horse  is  lashed  to  the  hull  with  numerous  straps  and 
ropes  and  on  top  of  it  are  placed  rugs  and  cushions. 
Each  saddle  is  built  for  four  passengers,  sitting  dos-a-dos, 
back  to  back,  two  on  a  side,  and  a  little  shelf  hangs  down 
to  support  their  feet.  In  order  to  diminish  the  climb  the 
elephant  kneels  down  in  the  road.  A  naked  heathen 
brings  a  ladder,  rests  it  against  the  side  of  the  beast 
and  the  passengers  climb  up  and  take  their  seats  in  the 
saddle.  Another  naked  heathen,  who  sits  straddle  the 
animal's  neck,  looks  around  at  the  load,  inquires  if  every- 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  183 

body  is  ready,  jabs  the  elephant  under  the  ear  with  a 
sharpened  iron  prong  and  then  the  trouble  begins.  It 
is  a  good  deal  like  an  earthquake. 

An  elephant  gets  up  one  leg  at  a  time,  and  during  the 
process  the  passengers  on  the  upper  deck  are  describing 
parabolas,  isosceles  triangles  and  parallelepipedons  in  the 
circumambient  atmosphere.  There  isn't  much  to  hold  on 
to  and  that  makes  it  the  more  exciting.  Then,  when 
the  animal  finally  gets  under  way,  its  movements  are 
similar  to  those  of  an  earthquake  or  a  vessel  without  bal- 
last in  a  first-class  Hatteras  gale.  The  irregularity  and 
uncertainty  of  the  motion  excites  apprehension,  and  as 
the  minutes  pass  by  you  become  more  and  more  firmly 
convinced  that  something  is  wrong  with  the  animal  or  the 
saddle  or  the  road,  and  the  way  the  beast  wiggles  his 
ears  is  very  alarming.  There  is  nobody  around  to  answer 
questions  or  to  issue  accident-insurance  policies  and  the 
naked  heathen  attendants  talk  no  language  that  you  know. 
But  after  a  while  you  get  used  to  it,  your  body  uncon- 
sciously adjusts  itself  to  the  changes  of  position,  and  on 
the  return  trip,  you  have  a  pretty  good  time.  You  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  the  awkward  and  the  irregular 
movements  that  you  really  enjoy  the  novelty  and  are 
perfectly  willing  to  try  it  again. 

But  the  most  wonderful  part  of  all  is  how  the  mahout 
steers  the  elephant.  It  is  one  of  the  mysteries  that  for- 
eigners can  never  understand.  He  carries  a  goad  in 
each  hand — a  rod  of  iron,  about  as  big  as  a  poker,  with 
an  ornamental  handle  generally  embossed  with  silver  or 
covered  with  enamel.  One  of  the  points  curves  around 
like  half  a  crescent;  the  other  is  straight  and  both  are 
sharpened  to  a  keen  point.  When  the  mahout  or  driver 
wants  the  elephant  to  do  something,  he  jabs  one  of  the 


i84  MODERN  INDIA 

goads  into  his  hide — sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the 
other,  and  at  different  places  on  the  neck,  under  the  ears, 
and  on  top  of  tlic  head,  and  somehow  or  another  the 
elephant  understands  what  a  jab  in  a  particular  place 
means  and  obeys  cheerfully  like  the  great,  good-natured 
beast  that  he  is.  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand 
the  system.     Elephant  driving  is  an  occult  science. 

The  road  to  Amber  passes  through  an  interesting  part 
of  the  city  of  Jcypore  and  beyond  the  walls  the  broad 
highway  is  crowded  with  carts  loaded  with  vegetables 
and  other  country  produce  coming  into  town  and  quite 
as  many  loaded  with  merchandise  going  the  other  way. 
Some  of  them  are  drawn  by  bullocks  and  some  by  camels ; 
there  are  long  caravans  of  camels  with  packs  and  paniers 
upon  their  backs.  As  you  meet  hundreds  of  pedestrians 
you  will  notice  that  the  women  all  have  baskets  or  pack- 
ages upon  their  heads.  The  men  never  carry  anything. 
On  either  side  of  the  broad  highway  are  cultivated  gar- 
dens and  gloomy  looking  houses  and  acres  covered  with 
ruins  and  crumbling  tombs.  The  city  of  Amber,  which, 
as  I  have  already  told  you,  was  once  the  capital  of  the 
province  and  the  scene  of  great  splendor,  as  well  as  fre- 
quent strife,  is  now  quite  deserted.  It  once  had  50,000 
inhabitants,  but  now  every  house  is  vacant.  Few  of  them 
even  have  caretakers.  The  beautiful  palace  with  its 
marble  coverings,  mosaics  and  luxuriant  gardens  is  occu- 
pied only  by  a  number  of  priests  and  fakirs,  who  are 
supposed  to  spend  their  time  in  meditation  upon  heavenly 
things,  and  in  obedience  to  an  ancient  custom  they  sacri- 
fice a  sheep  or  a  goat  in  one  of  the  temples  every  morning. 
Formerly  human  beings  were  slain  daily  upon  this  altar — 
children,  young  girls,  women  and  peasants,  who  either 
offered  themselves  for  the  sake  of  securing  advancement 


JEYPORE  AND  ITS  MAHARAJA  185 

in  reincarnation  or  were  seized  by  the  savage  priests  in 
the  absence  of  volunteers.  This  was  stopped  by  the 
British  a  century  ago,  and  since  then  the  blood  of  rams 
and  goats  has  atoned  for  the  sins  of  Jeypore. 


XI 


ABOUT    SNAKES   AND   TIGERS 


A  gentleman  in  Bombay  told  me  that  50,000  people  are 
killed  in  India  every  year  by  snakes  and  tigers,  and  his 
extraordinary  statement  was  confirmed  by  several  officials 
and  others  to  whom  I  applied  for  information.  They 
declared  that  only  about  one-half  of  the  deaths  from  such 
causes  were  ever  reported ;  that  the  government  was 
endeavoring  to  secure  more  complete  and  exact  returns, 
and  was  offering  rewards  for  the  destruction  of  reptiles 
and  wild  animals.  Under  instructions  from  Lord  Curzon 
the  authorities  of  the  central  government  at  Calcutta  gave 
me  the  returns  for  British  India  for  the  ten  years  from 
1892  to  1902,  showing  a  total  of  26,461  human  beings 
and  88,019  cattle  killed  by  snakes  and  wild  animals  dur- 
ing the  fiscal  year  1901-2.  This  does  not  include  the 
mortality  from  these  causes  in  the  eighty-two  native 
states  which  have  one-third  of  the  area  and  one  fourth 
of  the  population  of  the  empire.  Nor  does  it  include 
thousands  of  cases  in  the  more  remote  portions  of  the 
country,  which  are  never  reported  to  the  authorities.  In 
these  remote  sections,  vast  areas  of  mountains,  jungles 
and  swamps,  the  danger  from  such  causes  is  much 
greater  and  deaths  are  more  frequent  than  in  the  thickly 
settled  portions ;  so  that  my  friend's  estimate  was  not  far 
out  of  the  way. 

The  official  statistics  for  British  India  only  (the  native 

186 


ABOUT  SNAKES  AND  TIGERS  187 

states  not  included)  for  the  ten  years  named  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

KILLED    BY    WILD    ANIMALS    AND    SNAKES. 

Persons  Cattle 

1892   21,988  81,688 

1893  24,016  90.253 

1894  24,449  96,796 

1895  25,190  100,107 

1896  24,322  88,702 

1897  25,242  84,187 

1898  25,166  91,750 

1899  27,585  98,687 

1900  25,833  91,430 

1901   26,461  88,019 

Total   ten   years 250,252         907,619 

Taking  1901  as  a  sample,  I  find  that  1,171  persons  were 
killed  by  tigers  and  29,333  cattle ;  635  persons  and  37,473 
cattle  were  killed  by  leopards ;  403  human  beings  and 
5,048  cattle  were  killed  by  wolves;  1,442  human  beings 
and  9,123  cattle  were  killed  by  other  wild  animals,  and 
22,810  human  beings  and  5,002  cattle  by  snakes.  This 
is  about  the  average  record  for  the  ten  years,  although 
the  number  of  persons  killed  by  tigers  in  190 1-2  was  con- 
siderably less  than  usual. 

The  largest  sacrifice  of  life  was  in  the  Province  of 
Bengal,  of  which  Calcutta  is  the  capital,  and  where  the 
imperial  authorities  have  immediate  control  of  such 
affairs.  The  government  offers  a  bounty  of  $1  for  every 
snake  skin,  $5  for  every  tiger  skin,  and  a  corresponding 
amount  for  other  animals.  During  1901-2,  14,301  wild 
animals  were  reported  killed  and  96,953  persons  received 


i88  MODERN  INDIA 

rewards.  The  number  of  snakes  reported  destroyed  was 
69,668  and  2,858  persons  were  rewarded.  The  total 
amount  of  rewards  paid  was  $33,270,  which  is  much 
below  the  average  and  the  smallest  amount  reported  for 
many  years.  During  the  last  ten  years  the  amount  of 
rewards  paid  has  averaged  about  $36,000  annually.  The 
falling  off  in  1901-2  is  due  to  the  discovery  that  certain 
enterprising  persons  had  gone  into  the  business  of  breed- 
ing snakes  for  the  reward,  and  had  been  collecting  con- 
siderable sums  from  the  government  by  that  sort  of 
fraud.  Hereafter  no  one  will  be  able  to  collect  claims 
without  showing  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  snakes 
were  actually  wild  when  killed  or  captured.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  no  one  has  thus  far  been  accused 
of  breeding  tigers  for  the  bounty,  although  large  num- 
bers of  natives  are  engaged  in  the  business  of  capturing 
them  for  menageries  and  zoological  gardens. 

In  the  maharaja's  park  at  Jeypore  we  saw  a  dozen 
or  more  splendid  man-eating  tigers,  which,  the  keeper 
told  us,  had  been  captured  recently  only  twelve  miles 
from  that  city.  His  Highness  keeps  a  staff  of  tiger 
hunters  and  catchers  for  amusement.  He  delights  in 
shooting  big  game,  and  several  times  a  year  goes  into  the 
jungles  with  his  native  hunters  and  parties  of  friends 
and  seldom  returns  without  several  fine  skins  to  add  to 
his  collection.  His  tiger  catchers  remain  in  the  woods  all 
the  time,  and  he  has  a  pleasant  way  of  presenting  the 
animals  they  catch  to  friends  in  India,  England  and  else- 
where. While  we  were  in  Jeypore  I  read  in  a  news- 
paper that  the  Negus  of  Abyssinia  had  given  Robert 
Skinner  two  fine  lions  to  take  home  to  President  Roose- 
velt, and  I  am  sure  the  maharaja  of  Jeypore  would  be 
very  glad  to  add  a  couple  of  man-eating  tigers  if  he  were 


ABOUT  SNAKES  AND  TIGERS  189 

aware  of  Colonel  Roosevelt's  love  for  the  animal  king- 
dom. I  intended  to  make  a  suggestion  in  that  line  to 
him,  but  there  were  so  many  other  things  to  talk  about 
that  it  slipped  m.y  mind. 

The  maharaja  catches  tigers  in  the  orthodox  way.  He 
has  cages  of  iron  and  the  toughest  kind  of  wood  set  upon 
wheels  so  that  they  can  be  hauled  into  the  jungle  by  oxen. 
When  they  reach  a  suitable  place  the  oxen  are  unhitched, 
the  hunters  conceal  the  wheels  and  other  parts  of  the 
wagon  with  boughs  and  palm  leaves.  A  sheep  or  a  goat 
or  some  other  animal  is  sacrificed  and  placed  in  the  cage 
for  bait  and  the  door  is  rigged  so  that  it  will  remain 
open  in  an  inviting  manner  until  the  tiger  enters  and  lifts 
the  carcass  from  the  lever.  The  instant  he  disturbs  the 
bait  heavy  iron  bars  drop  over  the  hole  through  which  he 
entered  and  he  is  a  prisoner  at  the  mercy  of  his  captors. 
Sometimes  the  scheme  fails  and  the  hunters  lose  their 
time  and  trouble  and  bait,  but  being  men  of  experience 
in  such  affairs  they  generally  know  the  proper  place  and 
the  proper  season  to  look  for  game.  When  the  watchers 
notify  them  that  the  trap  is  occupied  they  come  with 
oxen  and  haul  it  to  town,  where  it  is  backed  up  against 
a  permanent  cage  in  the  menagerie,  the  iron  door  is  lifted, 
and  the  tiger  is  punched  with  iron  bars  until  he  accepts 
the  quarters  that  have  been  provided  for  him,  and  be- 
comes a  prisoner  for  life. 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  when  a  hungry  and  ugly  man- 
eater  comes  into  a  village,  for  the  inhabitants  are  gen- 
erally defenseless.  They  have  no  guns,  because  the  gov- 
ernment does  not  allow  the  natives  to  carry  arms,  and 
their  only  weapons  are  the  implements  of  the  farm.  If 
they  would  clear  out  and  scatter  the  number  of  victims 
would  not  be  so  large,  but  they  usually  keep  together  for 


I90  MODERN  INDIA 

mutual  defense,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  animal  has 
them  at  his  mercy.  A  man-eater  that  has  once  tasted 
human  flesh  is  never  satiated,  and  attacks  one  victim 
after  another  until  he  has  made  away  with  an  entire 
village. 

The  danger  from  snakes  and  other  poisonous  reptiles 
is  much  greater  than  from  tigers  and  other  wild  beasts, 
chiefly  because  snakes  in  India  are  sacred  to  the  gods, 
and  the  government  finds  it  an  exceedingly  delicate  mat- 
ter to  handle  the  situation  as  the  circumstances  require. 
When  a  Hindu  is  bitten  by  a  snake  it  is  considered  the 
act  of  a  god,  and  the  victim  is  honored  rather  than  pitied. 
While  his  death  is  deplored,  no  doubt,  he  has  been  re- 
moved from  an  humble  earthly  sphere  to  a  much  more 
happy  and  honorable  condition  in  the  other  world. 
Therefore,  while  it  is  scarcely  true  that  the  Hindus  like 
to  be  killed  by  snake  poison,  they  will  do  very  little  to 
protect  themselves  or  cure  the  bites.  Nor  do  they  like 
to  have  the  reptiles  killed  for  fear  of  provoking  the  gods 
that  look  after  them.  The  snake  gods  are  numbered 
by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  shrines  have  been  erected 
to  them  in  every  village  and  on  every  highway.  If  a 
pious  Hindu  peasant  sees  a  snake  he  will  seldom  run  from 
it,  but  will  remain  quiet  and  offer  a  prayer,  and  if  it  bites 
him  and  he  dies,  his  heirs  and  relatives  will  erect  a  shrine 
to  his  memory.  The  honor  of  having  a  shrine  erected 
to  one's  memory  is  highly  appreciated.  Hence  death 
from  snake  poison  is  by  no  means  the  worst  fate  a  Hindu 
can  suffer.  These  facts  indicate  the  difficulties  the  gov- 
ernment ofificials  meet  in  their  endeavors  to  exterminate 
reptiles. 

Snake  charmers  are  found  in  every  village.  They  are 
usually  priests,  monks  or  sorcerers,  and  may  generally 


ABOUT  SNAKES  AND  TIGERS  191 

be  seen  in  the  neighborhood  of  Hindu  temples  and  tombs. 
They  carry  from  two  to  twenty  hideous  reptiles  of  all 
sizes  in  the  folds  of  their  robes,  generally  next  to  their 
naked  bosoms,  and  when  they  see  a  chance  of  making  a 
few  coppers  from  a  stranger  they  draw  them  out  casually 
and  play  with  them  as  if  they  were  pets.  Usually  the 
fangs  have  been  carefully  extracted  so  that  the  snakes 
are  really  harmless.  At  the  same  time  they  are  not 
agreeable  companions.  Sometimes  snake  charmers  will 
allow  their  pets  to  bite  them,  and,  when  the  blood  ap- 
pears upon  the  surface  of  the  skin,  they  place  lozenges 
of  some  black  absorbent  upon  the  wounds  to  suck  up  the 
blood  and  afterward  sell  them  at  high  prices  for  charms 
and  amulets. 

When  Mr,  Henry  Phipps  of  New  York  was  in  India 
he  became  very  much  interested  in  this  subject.  His 
sympathies  were  particularly  excited  by  the  number  of 
poor  people  who  died  from  snake  bites  and  from  the  bites 
of  wild  animals,  without  medical  attention.  There  is 
only  one  small  Pasteur  institute  in  India,  and  it  is  geo- 
graphically situated  so  that  it  cannot  be  reached  without 
several  days'  travel  from  those  parts  of  the  empire  where 
snakes  are  most  numerous  and  the  mortality  from  animals 
is  largest.  With  his  usual  modesty,  without  saying  any- 
thing to  anybody,  Mr.  Phipps  placed  $100,000  in  the 
hands  of  Lord  Curzon  with  a  request  that  a  hospital  and 
Pasteur  institute  be  established  in  southern  India  at  the 
most  accessible  location  that  can  be  found  for  the  treat- 
ment of  such  cases,  and  a  laboratory  established  for 
original  research  to  discover  antidotes  and  remedies  for 
animal  poisons.  After  thorough  investigation  it  was 
decided  to  locate  the  institute  in  the  Province  of  Madras. 
The  local  government  provided  a  site  and  takes  charge 


192  MODERN  INDIA 

of  its  maintenance,  while  the  general  government  will  pay 
an  annual  subsidy  corresponding  to  the  value  of  the 
services  rendered  to  soldiers  sent  there  for  treatment. 

While  we  were  waiting  at  a  railway  station  one  morn- 
ing a  solemn-looking  old  man,  who,  from  appearances, 
might  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Mahomet,  or  the 
nineteenth  incarnation  of  a  mighty  god,  squatted  down 
on  the  floor  and  gazed  upon  us  with  a  broad  and  benevo- 
lent smile.  He  touched  his  forehead  respectfully  and 
bowed  several  times,  and  then,  having  attracted  attention 
and  complied  with  the  etiquette  of  his  caste,  drew  from 
his  breast  a  spry  little  sparrow  that  had  been  nestling 
between  his  cotton  robe  and  his  bare  flesh.  Stroking  the 
bird  affectionately  and  talking  to  it  in  some  mysterious 
language,  the  old  man  looked  up  at  us  for  approval  and 
placed  it  upon  the  pavement.  It  greeted  us  cordially  with 
several  little  chirps  and  hopped  around  over  the  stone  to 
get  the  kinks  out  of  its  legs,  while  the  old  fakir  drew 
from  his  breast  a  little  package  which  he  unfolded  care- 
fully and  laid  on  the  ground.  It  contained  an  assortment 
of  very  fine  beads  of  different  colors  and  made  of  glass. 
Taking  a  spool  of  thread  from  the  folds  of  his  robe,  the 
old  man  broke  off  a  piece  about  two  feet  long  and,  calling 
to  the  bird,  began  to  whistle  softly  as  his  pet  hopped  over 
toward  him.  There  was  evidently  a  perfect  understand- 
ing between  them.  The  bird  knew  what  was  expected 
and  proceeded  immediately  to  business.  It  grasped  the 
lower  end  of  the  thread  in  its  little  claws  as  its  trainer 
held  it  suspended  in  the  air  with  the  other  end  wound 
around  his  forefinger,  and  swung  back  and  forth,  chir- 
ruping cheerfully.  After  swinging  a  little  while  it 
reached  the  top,  and  then  stood  proudly  for  a  moment  on 
the  fakir's  finger  and  acknowledged  our  applause.    Then 


ABOUT  SNAKES  AND  TIGERS  193 

it  climbed  down  again  like  a  sailor  or  a  monkey  and 
dropped  to  the  ground.  I  had  never  seen  an  exhibition 
so  simple  and  yet  unusual,  but  something  even  better 
was  yet  to  come,  for,  in  obedience  to  instruction,  the  little 
chap  picked  up  the  tiny  beads  one  after  another  with  his 
bill  and  strung  them  upon  the  thread,  which  it  held  with 
its  tiny  toes. 


XII 

THE  RAJPUTS   AND  THEIR  COUNTRY 

In  India,  as  everywhere  else,  the  climate  and  physical 
features  of  the  country  have  exercised  a  sharp  and  last- 
ing influence  upon  the  race  that  lives  therein.  The 
noblest  characters,  the  brave,  the  strong,  the  enduring 
and  the  progressive  come  from  the  north,  where  the  air 
is  keen  and  encourages  activity,  while  those  who  dwell  in 
the  south  have  hereditary  physical  and  moral  lassitude. 
The  geographical  names  are  typical  of  the  people.  They 
all  mean  something  and  have  a  poetical  and  oftentimes  a 
political  significance.  "The  Mountains  of  Strength"  en- 
compass a  plateau  called  "The  Abode  of  Princes,"  and 
beyond  and  behind  them  stretches  a  desert  called  the 
"Region  of  Death."  This  country  is  called  the  Rajput- 
ana — pronounced  Raashpootana — and  is  composed  of  the 
most  interesting  of  all  the  native  states  of  India,  twenty 
in  number,  with  an  area  of  150,000  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  more  than  12,000,000.  They  are  the  only 
part  of  the  empire  where  ancient  political  institutions  and 
dynasties  survive,  and  their  preservation  is  due  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  British  authorities.  Each  prince  is  the 
hereditary  chief  of  a  military  clan,  the  members  of  which 
are  all  descended  from  a  common  ancestor,  and  for  cen- 
turies have  been  the  lords  of  the  soil.  Many  of  the  fam- 
ilies are  Mohammedans,  and  they  are  famous  for  their 
chivalry,  their  loyalty,  their  independence  and  love  of  the 

194 


THE  RAJPUTS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY     195 

truth.  These  characteristics,  I  contend,  are  largely  due 
to  the  climate  and  the  topography  of  the  territory  in 
which  they  live. 

Mount  Abu,  the  sacred  Olympus  of  western  India,  a 
huge  heap  of  granite  rising  5,650  feet  above  the  sea,  is  in 
the  center  of  Rajputana.  It  is  called  the  "Pinnacle  of  the 
Saints,"  and  upon  its  summit  may  be  found  the  highest 
ideals  of  Indian  ecclesiastical  architecture  in  a  group  of 
five  marble  temples  erected  by  peace-loving  and  life-pro- 
tecting Jains,  the  Quakers  of  the  East.  These  temples 
were  built  about  a  thousand  years  ago  by  three  brothers, 
pious  merchant  princes,  Vimala  Sah,  Tejpala  and  Vastu- 
pala.  The  material  was  carried  more  than  300  miles  over 
mountains  and  across  plains — an  undertaking  worthy  of 
the  ancient  Egyptians.  The  columns  and  pillars,  the  cor- 
nices, the  beams  that  support  the  roofs,  the  arches  of  the 
gateways,  windows  and  doors,  the  sills  and  lintels,  the 
friezes  and  wainscoting,  all  of  the  purest  and  daintiest 
marble,  were  chiseled  by  artists  of  a  race  whose  creed 
pronounces  patience  to  be  the  highest  virtue,  whose  pro- 
genitor lived  8,000,000  years,  and  to  whom  a  century  is 
but  a  day.  The  purpose  of  the  prayers  of  these  people  is 
to  secure  divine  assistance  in  the  suppression  of  all 
worldly  desires,  to  subdue  selfishness,  to  lift  the  soul 
above  sordid  thoughts  and  temptations.  Therefore  they 
built  their  temples  amid  the  most  beautiful  scenery  they 
could  find.  They  made  them  cool  and  dark  because  of 
the  heat  and  glare  of  this  climate,  with  wide  porticoes, 
overhanging  eaves  that  shut  out  the  sunshine  and  make 
the  interior  one  great  refreshing  shadow,  tempting  the 
warm  and  weary  to  enter  the  cool  twilight,  for  all  the 
light  they  have  is  filtered  through  screens  made  of  great 


I','*  ^\ 


MiMtum, 


196  MODERN  INDIA 

sheets  of  fine-grained  marble,  perforated  with  tracery 
and  foliage  designs  as  delicate  as  Brussels  lace. 

In  the  center  of  this  wonderful  museum  of  sculpture, 
surrounded  by  a  forest  of  carved  columns,  which  in  the 
minuteness  and  beauty  of  detail  stand  almost  unrivaled- 
even  in  this  land  of  lavish  labor  and  inexhaustible 
patience,  sits  the  image  of  Parswanatha,  the  god  of 
Peace  and  Plenty,  a  divinity  that  encourages  love  and 
gentleness  and  truth,  to  whom  these  temples  were  dedi- 
cated. He  is  seated  upon  an  exquisite  platform  of  ala- 
baster, with  legs  crossed  and  arms  folded,  silent  and  im- 
movable, engaged  in  the  contemplation  of  the  good  and 
beautiful,  and  his  lips  are  wreathed  in  a  smile  that  com- 
prehends all  human  beings  and  will  last  throughout  eter- 
nity. Around  this  temple,  as  usual  with  the  Jains,  is  a 
cloister — a  wide  colonnade  supported  by  a  double  row  of 
pillars.  There  are  fifty-five  cells  opening  upon  it,  but  in- 
stead of  being  occupied  by  monks  or  priests,  in  each  of 
them,  upon  a  throne  of  lotus  leaves,  sits  an  exact  min- 
iature duplicate  of  the  image  of  the  sanre  god,  in  the  same 
posture,  with  the  same  expression  of  serene  and  holy 
calm.  A  number  of  young  priests  were  moving  about 
placing  fresh  flowers  before  these  idols,  and  in  the  temple 
was  a  group  of  dusty,  tired,  hungry,  half-naked  and  sore- 
footed  pilgrims,  who  had  come  a  long  way  with  packs  on 
their  backs  bearing  their  food  and  seeking  no  shelter  but 
the  shade  of  temples  or  trees.  Here  at  last  they  found 
rest  and  relief  and  consolation,  and  it  seems  a  beautiful 
religion  that  requires  nothing  more  from  its  devotees. 

The  forty-eight  columns  which  sustain  the  dome  of  this 
temple  have  been  pronounced  the  most  exquisite  ex- 
amples of  carved  marble  in  existence,  and  the  highest 
authority  on  Indian  architecture  declares  that  the  dome 


THE  RAJPUTS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY    197 

"in  richness  of  ornament  and  delicacy  of  detail  is  prob- 
ably unsurpassed  in  the  world." 

Facing  the  entrance  to  the  temple  is  a  square  building, 
or  portico,  containing  nine  large  white  elephants,  each 
carved  from  a  monolith  of  marble.  Originally  they  all 
had  riders,  intended  to  represent  Vimala  Sah,  the  Jain 
merchant,  and  his  family  going  in  procession  to  worship, 
but  several  of  the  figures  have  been  broken  entirely  away 
and  others  have  been  badly  damaged.  These  five  tem- 
ples, with  their  courtyards  and  cloisters,  are  said  to  have 
cost  $90,000,000  and  to  have  occupied  fourteen  years  in 
building,  from  1032  to  1046  A.  D. 

Mount  Abu  is  the  headquarters  of  the  Rajputana  ad- 
ministration, the  hot  weather  station  for  the  British 
troops,  and  the  favorite  summer  resort  of  the  European 
colonies  of  western  India.  The  mountain  is  encircled  with 
well-made  roads,  winding  among  the  forests,  and  pictur- 
esque bridle  paths.  There  are  many  handsome  villas  be- 
longing to  officials  and  private  citizens,  barracks,  schools, 
asylums,  clubs  and  other  modern  structures. 

In  several  of  the  larger  cities  of  the  province  can  be 
found  temples  similar  to  those  I  have  described ;  some  of 
them  of  Saracenic  architecture,  equal  to  that  of  the  Al- 
hambra  or  the  Persian  palaces.  The  pure  Hindu  designs 
differ  from  the  Saracenic  as  widely  as  the  Gothic  from 
the  Romanesque,  but  often  you  find  a  mixture  embracing 
the  strongest  features  of  both.  The  rich  and  the  strong 
gave  expression  to  their  own  sense  of  beauty  and  taste 
when  by  the  erection  of  these  temples  they  sought  to 
honor  and  glorify  the  gods  to  whom  they  pray. 

Ajmere,  the  winter  capital  of  the  governor  general  of 
Rajputana,  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  beautiful  cities 
of  western  India,  having  been  founded  only  a  hundred 


198  MODERN  INDIA 

years  after  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  occu- 
pying a  picturesque  position  in  an  amphitheater  made  by 
the  mountains,  3,000  feet  above  the  sea.  It  is  protected 
by  a  stone  wall,  with  five  gtiteways ;  many  of  the  resi- 
dences and  most  of  the  buildings  are  of  stone,  with  orna- 
mental facades,  and  some  of  them  are  of  great  antiquity. 
In  the  olden  days  it  was  the  fashion  to  build  houses  to 
last  forever.  Ajmere  has  a  population  of  about  70,000. 
It  is  surrounded  by  a  fertile  country,  occupied  by  an  in- 
dustrious, wealthy,  and  prosperous  people.  The  city  is 
commanded  by  a  fortress  that  crowns  a  noble  hill  called 
"The  Home  of  the  Stars,"  possesses  a  mosque  that  is  one 
of  the  most  successful  combinations  of  Hindu  and  Sar- 
acenic architecture  of  which  I  have  spoken,  the  concep- 
tion of  some  unknown  genius,  combining  the  Mohamme- 
dan ideas  of  grandeur  with  Hindu  delicacy  of  taste  and 
prodigality  of  detail.  In  its  decorations  may  be  found 
some  of  the  most  superb  marble  embroidery  that  the  im- 
agination can  conceive  of.  One  of  the  highest  authorities 
dates  its  erection  as  far  back  as  the  second  century  before 
Christ,  but  it  is  certainly  of  a  much  later  date.  Some 
architects  contend  that  it  belongs  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury ;  it  is  however,  considered  the  finest  specimen  of  early 
Mohammedan  architecture  in  existence.  The  mosque  can 
be  compared  to  a  grand  salon,  open  to  the  air  at  one  side, 
the  ceiling,  fifty  feet  high,  supported  by  four  rows  of  col- 
umns, eighteen  in  each  row,  which  are  unique  in  design, 
and  no  two  of  them  are  alike.  The  designs  are  complex 
and  entirely  novel,  and  each  is  the  work  of  a  dififerent 
artist,  who  was  allowed  entire  liberty  of  design  and 
execution,  and  endeavored  to  surpass  his  rivals. 

There  are  several  other  mosques  and  temples  of  great 
beauty  in  Ajmere,  and  some  of  them  are  sacred  places 


THE  RAJPUTS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY    199 

that  attract  multitudes  of  pilgrims,  who  are  fed  daily  by 
the  benevolence  of  rich  contributors.  Enormous  rice 
puddings  are  cooked  in  eight  enormous  earthen  caldrons, 
holding  several  bushels  each,  which  are  ready  at  noon 
every  day.  The  composition  contains  rice,  butter,  sugar, 
almonds,  raisins  and  spices,  and  to  fill  all  of  the  eight  pots 
costs  about  $70.  The  moment  the  pudding  is  cooked  a 
bell  is  rung,  and  the  pilgrims  are  allowed  to  help  them- 
selves in  a  grab-game  which  was  never  surpassed. 
Greedy  creatures  scald  themselves  in  the  pudding  so 
badly  that  they  sometimes  carry  the  marks  for  life.  It  is 
counted  a  miracle  caused  by  the  intercession  of  the  saints 
that  no  lives  have  ever  been  lost  in  these  scrambles,  al- 
though nearly  every  day  some  pilgrim  is  so  badly  burned 
that  he  has  to  be  taken  to  a  hospital.  The  custom  is  an- 
cient, although  I  was  not  able  to  ascertain  its  origin  or 
the  reason  why  the  priests  do  not  allow  the  pudding  to 
cool  below  the  danger  point  before  serving  it. 

Ajmere  is  the  headquarters  of  one  of  the  greatest  rail- 
ways in  India,  with  extensive  shops,  employing  several 
thousand  natives  and  Europeans.  The  chief  machinists, 
master  mechanics  and  engineers  are  almost  exclusively 
Scotchmen. 

In  this  province  may  be  found  an  excellent  illustration 
of  the  effect  of  the  policy  of  the  British  government  to- 
ward the  native  princes.  It  had  good  material  to  work 
with,  because  the  twenty  independent  Rajput  princes 
are  a  fine  set  of  men,  all  of  whom  trace  their  descent 
to  the  sun  or  the  moon  or  to  one  of  the  planets,  and 
whose  ancestors  have  ruled  for  ages.  Each  family 
has  a  genealogical  tree,  with  roots  firmly  implanted  in 
mythology,  and  from  the  day  when  the  ears  of  their  in- 
fants begin  to  distinguish  the  difference  in  sounds,  and 


200  MODERN  INDIA 

their  tongues  begin  to  frame  thoughts  in  words,  every 
Rajput  prince  is  taught  the  tables  of  his  descent,  which 
read  hke  those  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  names  of 
his  ilhistrious  ancestors.  Attached  to  each  noble  house- 
hold is  a  chronicler  or  bard,  whose  business  is  to  keep  the 
family  record  straight,  and  to  chant  the  epics  that  relate 
the  achievements  of  the  clan.  As  I  have  said,  all  the  Raj- 
put families  are  related  and  belong  to  the  same  caste, 
which  has  prevented  them  from  diluting  their  blood  by 
marriage  with  inferior  families.  It  is  his  blood,  and  not 
the  amount  of  his  wealth  or  the  extent  of  his  lands,  that 
ennobles  a  Rajput.  Many  of  the  noblest  families  are  very 
poor,  but  the  poorest  retains  the  knowledge  and  the  pride 
of  his  ancestors,  which  are  often  his  only  inheritance. 

These  characteristics  and  other  social  and  religious 
customs  make  Rajputana  one  of  the  most  romantic  and 
fascinating  spots  in  India,  and  perhaps  there  is  no  more 
interesting  place  to  study  the  social,  political  and  econom- 
ical development  of  a  people  who  once  held  that 
only  two  professions  could  be  followed  by  a  gentle- 
man —  war  and  government.  But  their  ancient  tra- 
ditions have  been  thoroughly  revised  and  modified  to 
meet  modern  ideas.  They  have  advanced  in  pros- 
perity and  civilization  more  rapidly  than  any  other 
of  the  native  states.  Infanticide  of  girl  babies  was  for- 
merly considered  lawful  and  generally  practiced  among 
them,  and  widows  were  always  burned  alive  upon  the 
funeral  pyres  of  their  husbands,  but  now  the  Rajput 
princes  are  building  hospitals  and  asylums  for  women 
instead,  bringing  women  doctors  from  Europe  to  look 
after  the  wives  and  daughters  in  their  harems,  and  are 
founding  schools  for  the  education  of  girls. 

About  three  miles  from  the  center  of  Ajmere  is  Mayo 


THE  RAJPUTS  AND  THEIR  COUNTRY   201 

College,  for  the  exclusive  education  of  Rajput  princes, 
and  erected  by  them.  The  center  building,  of  white  mar- 
ble, is  surrounded  by  villas  and  cottages  erected  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  members  of  the  princely  families 
who  are  sent  there.  The  villas  are  all  of  pure  Hindu 
architecture,  and  there  has  been  considerable  rivalry 
among  the  different  families  to  see  which  should  house 
its  cadets  in  the  most  elegant  and  convenient  style. 
Hence,  nowhere  else  in  India  can  be  found  so  many  fine 
examples  of  modern  native  residence  architecture.  The 
young  princes  live  in  great  style,  each  having  a  little 
court  around  him  and  a  number  of  servants  to  gratify  his 
wants.  It  is  quite  the  usual  arrangement  for  a  college 
student  to  live  in  a  palatial  villa,  with  secretaries,  aides- 
de-camp,  equerries  and  bodyguards,  for  Indian  princes 
are  very  particular  in  such  matters,  and  from  the  hour  of 
birth  their  sons  are  surrounded  with  as  much  ceremony 
as  the  King  of  Spain.  They  would  not  be  permitted  to 
attend  the  college  if  they  could  not  continue  to  live  in 
regal  state.  Some  of  them,  only  10  or  12  years  old,  have 
establishments  as  large  and  grand  as  those  of  half  the 
kings  of  Europe,  and  the  Princes  Imperial  of  England  or 
of  Germany  live  the  life  of  a  peasant  in  comparison. 


XIII 

THE   ANCIENT    MOGUL    EMPIRE 

The  ancient  Mogul  Empire  embraced  almost  as  much 
of  India  as  is  controlled  by  the  British  today,  and  ex- 
tended westward  into  Europe  as  far  as  Moscow  and 
Constantinople.  It  was  founded  by  a  young  warrior 
known  as  Timour  the  Tartar,  or  Tamerlane,  as  he  is 
more  frequently  called  in  historical  works.  He  was  a 
native  of  Kesh,  a  small  town  fifty  miles  south  of  Samar- 
kand, the  capital  of  Bokhara,  which  was  known  as  Tar- 
tary  in  those  days.  This  young  man  conquered  more 
nations,  ruled  over  a  wider  territory  and  a  larger  number 
of  people  submitted  to  his  authority  than  to  any  other 
man  who  ever  lived,  before  or  since.  His  expansion 
policy  was  more  successful  than  that  of  Alexander  the 
Great  or  Julius  Caesar  or  Charles  V.  or  Napoleon,  and 
he  may  properly  be  estimated  as  one  of  the  greatest  if  not 
the  very  greatest  and  most  successful  soldier  in  all  his- 
tory. Yet  he  was  not  born  to  a  throne.  He  was  a  self- 
made  man.  His  father  was  a  modest  merchant,  without 
wealth  or  fame.  His  grandfather  was  a  scholar  of  repute 
and  conspicuous  as  the  first  convert  to  Mohammedanism 
in  the  country  in  which  he  lived.  Timour  went  into  the 
army  when  he  was  a  mere  boy.  There  were  great  doings 
in  those  days,  and  he  took  an  active  part  in  them.  From 
the  start  he  seems  to  have  been  cast  for  a  prominent  role 
in  the  military  dramas  and  tragedies  being  enacted  upon 

202 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  203 

the  world's  wide  stage.  He  inherited  a  love  of  learning 
from  his  grandfather  and  a  love  of  war  as  well  as  mili- 
tary genius  from  some  savage  ancestor.  He  rose  rapidly. 
Other  men  acknowledged  his  superiority,  and  before  he 
was  30  years  old  he  found  himself  upon  a  throne  and  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  greatest  soldier  of  his  time.  He 
came  into  India  in  1398  and  set  up  one  of  his  sons  on  a 
throne  at  Delhi,  where  his  descendants  ruled  until  the 
great  Indian  mutiny  of  1857 — ^460  years.  He  died  of 
fever  and  ague  in  1405,  and  was  buried  at  Samarkand, 
where  a  splendid  shrine  erected  over  his  tomb  is  visited 
annually  by  tens  of  thousands  of  pilgrims,  who  worship 
him  as  divine. 

Babar,  sixth  in  descent  from  Timour,  consolidated  the 
states  of  India  under  a  central  government.  His  mem- 
oirs make  one  of  the  most  fascinating  books  ever  written. 
He  lived  a  stirring  and  a  strenuous  life,  and  the  world 
bowed  down  before  him.  His  death  was  strangely 
pathetic,  and  illustrates  the  faith  and  the  superstition  of 
men  mighty  in  material  affairs  but  impotent  before  gods 
of  their  own  creation.  His  son  and  the  heir  to  his  throne, 
Humayon,  being  mortally  ill  of  fever,  was  given  up  to 
die  by  the  doctors,  whereupon  the  affectionate  father 
went  to  the  nearest  temple  and  offered  what  he  called  his 
own  worthless  soul  as  a  substitute  for  his  son.  The  gods 
accepted  the  sacrifice.  The  dying  prince  began  to  re- 
cover and  the  old  man  sank  slowly  into  his  grave. 

The  empire  increased  in  wealth,  glory  and  power,  and 
among  the  Mogul  dynasty  were  several  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary men  that  have  ever  influenced  the  destinies 
of  nations.  Yet  it  seems  strange  that  from  the  beginning 
each  successive  emperor  should  be  allowed  to  obtain  the 
throne  by  treachery,  by  the  wholesale  slaughter  of  his 


204 


MODERN  INDIA 


kindred  and  almost  always  by  those  most  shameful  of 
sins — parricide  and  ingratitude  to  the  authors  of  their 
being.  Rebellious  children  have  always  been  the  curse 
of  oriental  countries,  and  when  we  read  the  histories  of 
the  Mogul  dynasty  and  the  Ottoman  Empire  and  of  the 
tragedies  that  have  occurred  under  the  shadows  of  the 
thrones  of  China,  India  and  other  eastern  countries,  we 
cannot  but  sympathize  with  the  feelings  of  King  Thebaw 
of  Burma,  who  immediately  after  his  coronation  ordered 
the  assassination  of  every  relative  he  had  in  the  world 
and  succeeded  in  "removing"  seventy-eight  causes  of 
anxiety. 

Babar,  the  "Lion,"  as  they  called  him,  was  buried  at 
Kabul,  the  capital  of  Afghanistan,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Humayon,  the  son  for  whom  he  gave  his  life.  The  latter, 
on  Sunday.  Dec.  14,  1517,  the  day  that  Martin  Luther  de- 
livered his  great  speech  against  the  pope  and  caused  the 
new  word  "Protestant" — one  who  protests — to  be  coined, 
drove  Sikandar,  the  last  of  the  Afghan  dynasty,  from 
India.  When  they  found  the  body  of  that  strenuous 
person  upon  the  battle  field,  the  historians  say,  "five  or 
six  thousand  of  the  enemy  were  lying  dead  in  heaps  with- 
in a  small  space  around  him ;"  as  if  he  had  killed  them 
all.  The  wives  and  slaves  of  Sikandar  were  captured. 
Humayon  behaved  generously  to  them,  considering  the 
fashion  of  those  times,  but  took  the  liberty  to  detain  their 
luggage,  which  included  their  jewels  and  other  negotiable 
assets.  In  one  of  their  jewel  boxes  was  found  a  diamond 
which  Sikandar  had  acquired  from  the  sultan  Alaeddin, 
one  of  his  ancestors,  and  local  historians,  writing  of  it 
at  the  time,  declared  that  "it  is  so  valuable  that  a  judge 
of  diamonds  valued  it  at  half  the  daily  expenses  of  the 
entire  world."     This  was  the  first  public  appearance  in 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  205 

good  society  of  the  famous  Kohinoor,  which,  as  every- 
body knows,  is  now  the  chief  ornament  in  the  crown  of 
Edward  VIL,  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and 
Emperor  of  India.  It  is  vahied  at  £880,000,  or  $4,400,000 
in  our  money.  Queen  Victoria  never  wore  it.  She  had 
it  taken  from  the  crown  and  replaced  by  a  paste  substi- 
tute. This  jewel  thus  became  one  of  the  heirlooms  of  the 
Moguls,  who  lived  in  such  splendor  as  has  never  been 
seen  since  or  elsewhere  and  could  not  be  duplicated  in 
modern  times. 

In  the  winter  of  1555  Humayon  was  descending  a 
stairway  when  his  foot  slipped  and  he  fell  headlong  to 
the  bottom.  He  was  carried  into  his  palace  and  died  a 
few  days  later,  being  succeeded  by  his  son,  a  boy  of  13, 
who  in  many  respects  was  the  noblest  of  the  Moguls,  and 
is  called  in  history  Akbar  the  Great.  He  came  to  the 
throne  in  1556,  and  his  reign,  which  lasted  until  1605, 
was  almost  contemporaneous  with  that  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. In  reading  his  history  one  is  impressed  by  the 
striking  resemblance  between  him  and  the  present  Em- 
peror of  Germany.  Beiram,  who  had  been  his  father's 
prime  minister,  and  whose  clear  intellect,  iron  will  and 
masterful  abiUty  had  elevated  the  house  of  Tamerlane  to 
the  glory  and  power  it  then  enjoyed,  remained  with  the 
young  king  as  his  adviser,  and,  owing  to  the  circum- 
stances, did  not  treat  him  with  as  much  deference  and 
respect  as  Akbar's  lofty  notions  considered  proper.  The 
boy  endured  the  slights  for  four  years,  and  when  he 
reached  the  age  of  17  there  occurred  at  the  court  of  the 
Moguls  an  incident  which  was  repeated  several  centuries 
later  at  Berlin,  but  it  turned  out  differently. 

Beiram,  like  Bismarck,  submitted  to  the  will  of  his 
young  master,  surrendered  all  insignia  of  authority,  and 


2o6  MODERN   INDIA 

started  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  but  before  he  left  India 
his  chagrin  and  indignation  got  the  better  of  his  judgment 
and  he  inspired  an  insurrection  against  the  throne.  He 
was  arrested  and  brought  back  to  Delhi,  where,  to  his 
surprise,  he  was  received  with  the  greatest  ceremony  and 
honor.  According  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  nobles  of 
the  highest  rank  clothed  him  with  garments  from  the 
king's  wardrobe,  and  when  he  entered  the  royal  presence 
Akbar  arose,  took  him  by  the  hand  and  led  the  astonished 
old  man  to  a  seat  beside  the  imperial  throne.  Beiram, 
realizing  the  magnanimity  of  his  boyish  master,  fell  upon 
his  knees,  kissed  the  feet  of  the  king,  and  between  sobs 
begged  for  pardon.  The  king  conferred  the  greatest  pos- 
sible honors  upon  him,  but  gave  him  no  responsibility, 
and  Beiram's  proud  and  sensitive  soul  found  relief  in 
resuming  his  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  But  he  never  reached 
that  holy  place.  He  died  on  the  way  by  the  hand  of  an 
Afghan  noble,  whose  father,  years  before,  he  had  killed 
in  battle. 

You  must  remember  Akbar,  because  so  many  of  the 
glories  of  Indian  architecture,  which  culminate  at  Agra 
and  Delhi,  are  due  to  his  refined  taste  and  appreciation 
for  the  beautiful,  and  I  shall  have  a  good  deal  to  say 
about  him,  because  he  was  one  of  the  best  men  that  ever 
wore  a  crown.  He  was  great  in  every  respect ;  he  was 
great  as  a  soldier,  great  as  a  jurist,  great  as  an  executive, 
broad-minded,  generous,  benevolent,  tolerant  and  wise, 
an  almost  perfect  type  of  a  ruler,  if  we  are  to  believe  what 
the  historians  of  his  time  tell  us  about  him.  He  was  the 
handsomest  man  in  his  empire ;  he  excelled  all  his  sub- 
jects in  athletic  exercises,  in  endurance  and  in  physical 
strength  and  skill.  He  was  the  best  swordsman  and  the 
best  horseman  and  his  power  over  animals  was  as  com- 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  207 

plete  as  over  men.  And"  as  an  architect  he  stands  un- 
rivaled except  by  his  grandson,  who  inherited  his  taste. 

Although  a  pagan  and  without  the  light  of  the  gospel, 
Akbar  recognized  the  merits  of  Christianity  and  exempli- 
fied the  ideals  of  civil  and  religions  liberty  which  it 
teaches,  and  which  are  now  considered  the  highest  attri- 
bute of  a  well-ordered  state.  While  Queen  Elizabeth  was 
sending  her  Catholic  subjects  to  the  scaffold  and  the  rack, 
while  Philip  II.  was  endeavoring  to  ransom  the  souls  of 
heretics  from  perdition  by  burning  their  bodies  alive  in 
the  public  plazas  of  his  cities,  and  while  the  awful  incident 
of  St.  Bartholomew  indicated  the  religious  condition  of 
France,  the  great  IMogul  of  Delhi  called  around  his 
throne  ministers  of  peace  from  all  religions,  proclaimed 
tolerance  of  thought  and  speech,  freedom  of  worship  and 
theological  controversy  throughout  his  dominions ;  he 
abolished  certain  Hindu  practices,  such  as  trials  by  or- 
deal, child  marriage,  the  burning  of  widows  and  other 
customs  which  have  since  been  revived,  because  he  con- 
sidered them  contrary  to  justice,  good  morals  and  the 
welfare  of  his  people,  and  displayed  a  cosmopolitan  spirit 
bv  marrying  wives  from  the  Brahmin,  Buddhist,  Moham- 
medan and  Christian  faiths.  He  invited  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  were  enjoying  great  success 
at  Goa,  the  Portuguese  colony  200  miles  south  from  Bom- 
bay, to  come  to  Agra  and  expound  their  doctrines,  and 
gave  them  land  and  money  to  build  a  church.  His  grand- 
son and  successor  married  a  Catholic  queen — a  Portu- 
guese princess. 

But  notwithstanding  the  just,  generous  and  noble  life 
of  Akbar,  he  was  overthrown  by  his  own  son,  Selim,  who 
took  the  high-sounding  title  Jehanghir,  "Conqueror  of 
the  World,"  and  he  had  been  reigning  but  a  short  time 


2o8  MODERN   INDIA 

when  his  own  son,  Kushru,  endeavored  to  treat  him  in 
the  same  manner.  The  revolt  was  promptly  quelled. 
Seven  hundred  of  the  supporters  of  the  young  prince 
were  impaled  in  a  row,  and  that  reckless  youth  was  con- 
ducted slowly  along  the  line  so  that  he  could  hear  the 
dying  reproaches  of  the  victims  of  his  misguided  ambi- 
tion. Other  of  his  sons  also  organized  rebellions  after- 
ward and  "the  conqueror  of  the  world"  had  considerable 
difficulty  in  retaining  his  seat  upon  the  throne,  but  he 
proved  to  be  a  very  good  king.  He  was  just  and  tolerant, 
sober  and  dignified  and  scrupulous  in  observing  the  re- 
quirements of  his  position,  and  was  entirely  subject  to  the 
influence  of  a  beautiful  and  brilliant  wife. 

His  successor  was  Shah  Jehan,  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting and  romantic  figures  in  Indian  history,  who  began 
his  reign  by  murdering  his  brothers.  That  precaution 
firmly  established  him  upon  the  throne.  He,  too,  was  con- 
sidered a  good  king,  but  his  fame  rests  chiefly  upon  the 
splendor  of  his  court  and  the  magnificent  structures  he 
erected.  He  rebuilt  the  ancient  City  of  Delhi  upon  a  new 
site,  adorned  it  with  public  buildings  of  unparalleled  cost 
and  beauty,  and  received  his  subjects  seated  upon  the 
celebrated  peacock  throne,  a  massive  bench  of  solid  gold 
covered  with  mosaic  figures  of  diamonds,  rubies,  pearls 
and  other  precious  stones.  It  cost  £6.500,000,  which 
is  $32,500,000  of  our  money,  even  in  those  times, 
w^hen  jewels  were  cheap  compared  with  the  prices  of  to- 
n^^  day.  In  1729  Nadir  Shah,  the  King  of  Persia,  swooped 
down  upon  India  and  carried  this  wonder  of  the  world 
to  his  own  capital,  together  with  about  $200,000,000  in 
other  portable  property. 

There  are  many  good  traits  in  the  character  of  Shah 
Jehan.     Aside  from  his  extravagance,  his  administration 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  209 

was  to  be  highly  commended.  Under  his  rule  India 
reached  the  summit  of  its  wealth  and  prosperity,  and  the 
people  enjoyed  liberty  and  peace,  but  retribution  came  at 
last,  and  his  sons  did  unto  him  as  he  had  done  unto  his 
father,  and  much  more  also.  They  could  not  wait  until 
he  was  ready  to  relinquish  power  or  until  death  took  the 
scepter  from  his  hand,  but  four  of  them  rebelled  against 
him,  drove  him  from  the  throne  and  kept  him  a  prisoner 
for  the  last  eight  years  of  his  life.  But  scarcely  had  they 
overthrown  him  when  they  began  to  quarrel  among  them- 
selves, and  Aurangzeb,  the  fourth  son,  being  the 
strongest  among  them,  simplified  the  situation  by  slaugh- 
tering his  three  brothers,  and  was  thus  able  to  reign  un- 
molested for  more  than  half  a  century,  until  he  died  in 
1707,  89  years  old.  His  last  days  were  embittered  by  a 
not  unnatural  fear  that  he  would  suffer  the  fate  of  his 
own  father. 

From  the  time  that  the  Emperor  Aurangzeb  climbed 
to  the  throne  of  the  Moguls  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  his 
father  and  three  elder  brothers,  the  glory  and  power  of 
that  empire  began  to  decay.  He  reigned  forty-nine  years. 
His  court  was  magnificent.  At  the  beginning  his  admin- 
istration was  wise  and  just,  and  he  was  without  question 
an  able,  brave  and  cultured  king.  But,  whether  as  an 
atonement  for  his  crimes  or  for  some  other  reason,  he  be- 
came a  religious  fanatic,  and  after  a  few  years  the  broad- 
minded  policy  of  religious  liberty  and  toleration,  which 
was  the  chief  feature  of  the  reign  of  his  father  and  his 
grandfather,  was  reversed,  and  he  endeavored  to  force 
all  of  his  subjects  into  the  Mohammedan  faith.  He  im- 
posed a  heavy  head  tax  upon  all  who  did  not  profess  that 
faith ;  he  excluded  all  but  Moslems  from  the  public  serv- 
ice; he  deprived  "infidels,"  as  they  were  generally  termed. 


2IO  MODERN  INDIA 

of  valuable  civil  rights  and  privileges ;  he  desecrated  the 
shrines  and  destroyed  the  sacred  images  of  the  Hindus, 
and  prohibited  the  religious  festivals  and  other  features 
of  their  worship.  The  motive  of  this  policy  was  no  doubt 
conscientious,  but  the  effect  was  the  same  as  that  which 
has  followed  similar  sectarian  zeal  in  other  countries. 
The  history  of  the  world  demonstrates  that  religious  in- 
tolerance and  persecution  always  destroy  prosperity.  No 
nation  ever  prospered  that  prohibited  freedom  of  wor- 
ship. You  will  find  a  striking  demonstration  of  that  truth 
in  Spain,  in  the  Balkan  states  and  in  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire, in  modern  times  without  going  back  to  the  Jews  and 
other  ancient  races.  The  career  of  Aurangzeb  is  strik- 
ingly like  that  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  and  his  character 
was  similar  to  that  of  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  who  was  his 
contemporary.  Both  were  unscrupulous,  arrogant,  ego- 
tistical and  cruel  kings ;  both  were  religious  devotees  and 
endeavored  to  compensate  for  a  lack  of  morals  by  exces- 
sive zeal  in  persecuting  heretics,  and  in  promoting  what 
they  considered  the  interests  of  their  church ;  and  both 
created  disaffection  and  provoked  rebellion  among  their 
subjects,  and  undermined  the  power  and  authority  of  the 
dynasties  to  which  they  belonged. 

It  is  needless  to  review  the  slow  but  gradual  decay  of 
the  Great  ]\Iogul  Empire.  With  the  adoption  of  Aurang- 
zeb's  policy  of  intolerance  it  began  to  crumble,  and  none 
of  his  successors  proved  able  to  restore  it.  He  died  in 
1707,  and  the  throne  of  the  Moguls  was  never  again  oc- 
cupied by  a  man  of  force  or  notable  ability.  The  history 
of  the  empire  during  the  eighteenth  century  is  merely  a 
record  of  successive  failures,  of  disintegration,  of  suc- 
cessful rebellions  and  of  invasions  by  foreign  foes,  which 
stripped  the  Moguls  of  their  wealth  and  destroyed  their 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  211 

resources.  First  came  the  Persians ;  then  the  Afghans, 
who  plundered  the  imperial  capital,  desecrated  tombs  and 
temples,  destroyed  the  fortresses  and  palaces  and  left 
little  but  distress  and  devastation  when  they  departed. 
One  by  one  the  provinces  separated  themselves  from  the 
empire  and  set  up  their  own  independence ;  until  in  1804 
the  English  took  possession  of  the  remnant  and  have 
maintained  their  authority  ever  since. 

Within  the  wall  of  the  great  citadel  at  Delhi,  for 
reasons  of  policy,  the  English  allowed  the  great  Mogul 
to  maintain  a  fictitious  court,  and  because  the  title  con- 
tinued to  command  the  veneration  of  the  natives,  at 
state  ceremonies  the  nominal  successor  of  Timour  the 
Tartar  was  allowed  to  sit  upon  a  throne  in  the  imperial 
hall  of  audience  and  receive  the  homage  of  the  people. 
But  the  Moguls  were  not  allowed  to  exercise  authority 
and  were  idle  puppets  in  the  hands  of  their  advisers  until 
the  great  mutiny  of  1857  brought  the  native  soldiers  into 
the  palace  crying: 

"Help,  oh  King,  in  our  Fight  for  the  Faith." 
It  is  not  necessary  to  relate  the  details  of  that  awful 
episode  of  Indian  history,  but  it  will  do  no  harm  to  recall 
what  we  learned  in  our  school  days  of  the  principal  inci- 
dents and  refer  to  the  causes  which  provoked  it.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  British  occupation  of  India  there 
had  been  frequent  local  uprisings  caused  by  discontent  or 
conspiracy,  but  the  East  India  Company,  and  the  of- 
ficials of  the  British  government  who  supported  it,  had 
perfect  confidence  in  the  loyalty  of  the  sepoys — the  native 
soldiers  who  were  hired  to  fight  against  their  fellow 
countrymen  for  so  much  pay.  They  were  officered  by 
Englishmen,  whose  faith  in  them  was  only  extinguished 
by  assassination  and  massacre.     The  general  policy  and 


212  MODERN  INDIA 

the  genera,  results  of  British  administration  have  been 
worthy  of  the  highest  commendation,  but  there  have  been 
many  blunders  and  much  injustice  from  time  to  time, 
due  to  individuals  rather  than  to  the  nation.  A  weak  and 
unwise  man  in  authority  can  do  more  harm  in  a  year  than 
can  be  corrected  in  a  century.  Several  so-called  "re- 
forms" had  been  introduced  into  the  native  army ;  orders 
had  been  issued  forbidding  the  use  of  caste  marks,  the 
wearing  of  earrings  and  other  things  which  Englishmen 
considered  trivial,  but  were  of  great  importance  to  the 
Hindus.  Native  troops  were  ordered  over  the  sea,  which 
caused  them  to  lose  their  caste;  new  regulations  admitted 
low-caste  men  to  the  service ;  the  entire  army  was  pro- 
vided with  a  new  uniform  with  belts  and  cockades  made 
from  the  skins  of  animals  which  the  Hindus  considered 
sacred,  and  cartridges  were  issued  which  had  been  cov- 
ered \vith  lard  to  protect  them  from  the  moisture  of  the 
climate,  and,  as  everybody  knows,  the  flesh  of  swine  is  the 
most  unclean  thing  in  existence  to  the  pious  Hindu.  All 
these  things,  which  the  stubborn,  stupid  Englishmen  con- 
sidered insignificant,  were  regarded  by  the  sepoys  as  de- 
liberate attacks  upon  their  religion,  and  certain  conspir- 
ators, who  had  reasons  for  desiring  to  destroy  British 
authority,  used  them  to  convince  the  native  soldiers  that 
the  new  regulations  were  a  long-considered  and  deliber- 
ate attempt  to  deprive  them  of  their  caste  and  force  them 
to  become  Christians.  Unfortunately  the  British  officers 
in  command  refused  to  treat  the  complaints  seriously, 
and  laughed  in  the  faces  of  their  men,  which  was  insult 
added  to  injury,  and  was  interpreted  as  positive  proof  of 
the  evil  intentions  of  the  government. 

This  situation  was  taken  advantage  of  by  certain  Hin- 
du princes  who  had  been  deprived  of  power  or  of  pen- 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  213 

sions  previously  granted.  Nana  Sahib,  the  deposed  raja 
of  Poona,  was  the  leader,  and  the  unsuspecting  author- 
ities allowed  him  to  travel  about  the  country  stirring  up 
discontent  and  conspiring  with  other  disloyal  native 
chiefs  for  a  general  uprising  and  massacre,  which,  ac- 
cording to  their  programme,  occurred  in  northern  India 
during  the  summer  of  1857.  If  the  British  had  desired  to 
play  into  the  hands  of  the  conspirators  they  could  not 
have  adopted  a  policy  more  effective  in  that  direction. 
Utterly  unconscious  of  danger  and  unsuspicious  of  the 
conspiracies  that  were  enfolding  them,  they  relieved  city 
after  city  of  its  guard  of  English  troops  and  issued  arms 
and  ammunition  in  unusual  and  unnecessary  quantities  to 
the  sepoys,  at  whose  mercy  the  entire  foreign  population 
was  left. 

The  outbreak  occurred  according  to  the  programme  of 
Nana  Sahib,  who  proved  to  be  a  leader  of  great  ability 
and  strategic  skill,  and  in  nearly  every  city  of  northern 
India,  particularly  at  Delhi,  Lucknow,  Cawnpore  and^^i^i^M 
other  places  along  the  Ganges,  men,  women  and  children, 
old  and  young,  in  the  foreign  colonies  were  butchered  in 
cold  blood.  In  Agra  6,000  foreigners  gathered  for  pro- 
tection in  the  walls  of  the  great  fort,  and  most  of  them 
were  saved.  Small  detachments  of  brave  soldiers  under 
General  Havelock,  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  Sir  Colin  Camp- 
bell, Sir  Hugh  Rose,  Lord  Napier  and  other  leaders 
fought  their  way  to  the  rescue,  and  the  conspiracy  was 
finally  crushed,  but  not  without  untold  suffering  and 
enormous  loss  of  life. 

On  the  evening  of  May  ii,  1857,  about  fifty  foreigners, 
all  unarmed  civilians,  were  brought  into  the  palace  at 
Delhi,  and  by  order  of  Bahander  Shah,  the  Mogul  whom 
the  mutineer  leaders  had  proclaimed  Emperor  of  India, 


214  MODERN  INDIA 

were  thrust  into  a  dung^eon,  starved  for  five  days  and  then 
hacked  to  pieces  in  the  beautiful  courtyard.  The  new 
emperor,  a  weak-minded  old  man  with  no  energy  or  abil- 
ity, and  scarcely  intellect  enough  to  realize  his  responsi- 
bilities, pronounced  judgment  and  issued  the  orders  pre- 
pared for  him  by  the  conspirators  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. But  retribution  was  swift  and  sure.  A  few 
weeks  later  when  the  British  troops  blew  in  the  walls  of 
the  palace  citadel  after  one  of  the  most  gallant  assaults 
ever  recorded  in  the  annals  of  war,  the  old  man,  with  two 
of  his  sons,  fled  to  the  tomb  of  Humayon,  who  occupied 
the  Mogul  throne  from  1531  to  1556,  as  if  that  sanctuary 
would  be  revered  by  the  British  soldiers. 

This  tomb  is  one  of  the  most  notable  buildings  in  India. 
It  stands  on  the  bank  of  the  Jumna  River,  about  five 
miles  from  the  present  city  of  Delhi.  It  is  an  octagonal 
mass  of  rose-colored  sandstone  and  white  marble,  dec- 
orated with  an  ingenuity  of  design  and  delicacy  of  execu- 
tion that  have  never  been  surpassed,  and  is  crowned  by 
a  marble  dome  of  perfect  Persian  pattern,  three-fourths 
the  diameter  of  that  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  of  London, 
and  almost  as  large  as  that  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 
In  this  splendid  mausoleum,  where  twelve  of  his  imperial 
ancestors  sleep,  the  Last  of  the  Moguls  endeavored  to 
conceal  himself  and  his  sons,  but  Colonel  Hodson,  who 
commanded  a  desperate  volunteer  battalion  of  foreigners 
whose  property  had  been  confiscated  or  destroyed  by  the 
mutineers,  whose  wives  had  been  ravished  and  whose 
children  had  been  massacred,  followed  the  flying  Mogul 
to  the  asylum  he  sought,  and  dragged  him  trembling  and 
begging  for  mercy  from  among  the  tombs. 

Hodson  was  a  man  of  remarkable  character  and  de- 
termination and  was  willing  to  assume  responsibility,  and 


THE  ANCIENT  MOGUL  EMPIRE  215 

"Hodson's  Horse,"  as  the  volunteer  battalion  was  called, 
were  the  Rough  Riders  of  the  Indian  mutiny.  He  took 
the  aged  king  back  to  Delhi  and  delivered  him  to  the 
British  authorities  alive,  but  almost  imbecile  from  terror 
and  excitement.  The  two  princes,  19  and  22  years  of 
age,  he  deliberately  shot  with  his  own  revolver  before 
leaving  the  courtyard  of  the  tomb  in  which  they  were 
captured. 

This  excited  the  horror  of  all  England.  The  atrocities 
of  the  mutineers  were  almost  forgotten  for  the  moment. 
That  the  heirs  of  the  throne  of  the  great  Moguls  should 
be  killed  by  a  British  officer  while  prisoners  of  war  was 
an  offense  against  civilization  and  Christianity  that  could 
not  be  tolerated,  although  only  a  few  weeks  before  these 
two  same  princes  had  participated  in  the  cold-blooded 
butchery  of  fifty  Christian  women  and  children.  There 
was  a  parliamentary  investigation.  Hodson  explained 
that  he  had  only  a  few  men,  too  few  to  guard  three  pris- 
oners of  such  importance ;  that  he  was  surrounded  by 
fifty  thousand  half-armed  and  excited  natives,  who  would 
have  exterminated  his  little  band  and  rescued  his  pris- 
oners if  any  one  of  their  number  had  possessed  sufficient 
presence  of  mind  and  courage  to  make  the  attempt.  Con- 
vinced that  he  could  not  conduct  three  prisoners  through 
that  crowd  of  their  adherents  and  sympathizers  without 
sacrificing  his  own  life  and  that  of  his  escort,  he  took  the 
responsibility  of  shooting  the  princes  like  the  reptiles  they 
were,  and  thus  relieved  the  British  government  from 
what  might  have  been  a  most  embarrassing  situation. 

Hodson  was  condemned  by  parliament  and  public 
opinion,  while  the  bloodthirsty  old  assassin  he  had  cap- 
tured was  treated  as  gently  and  as  generously  as  if  he 
had  been  a  saint.     Bahandur  Shah  was  tried  and  con- 


2i6  MODERN  INDIA 

victed  of  treason,  but  was  acquitted  of  responsibility  for 
the  massacre  on  the  ground  that  his  act  authorizing  it 
was  a  mere  formaHty,  and  that  it  would  have  occurred 
without  his  consent  at  any  rate.  Instead  of  hanging  him 
the  British  government  sent  him  in  exile  to  Rangoon, 
where  he  was  furnished  a  comfortable  bungalow  and  re- 
ceived a  generous  pension  until  November,  1862,  when 
he  died.  Bahandur  Shah  had  a  third  son,  a  worthless 
drunken  fellow,  who  managed  to  escape  the  consequences 
of  his  participation  in  the  massacre  and  accompanied  him 
into  exile.  He  survived  his  father  for  several  years  and 
left  a  widow  and  several  children  at  Rangoon,  including 
a  son,  who  inherited  his  indolence,  but  not  his  vices.  The 
latter  still  lives  there  on  a  small  pension  from  the  British 
government,  is  idle,  indifferent,  amiable  and  well-liked. 
He  goes  to  the  races,  the  polo  games  and  tennis  matches, 
and  takes  interest  in  other  sports,  but  is  too  lazy  to  par- 
ticipate. He  has  married  a  Burmese  wife  and  they  have 
several  children,  who  live  with  him  in  the  bungalow 
that  was  assigned  to  his  grandfather  when  he  was  sent 
to  Burma  forty-five  years  ago,  and,  judging  from  ap- 
pearances, it  has  not  been  repaired  since.  Although  he  is 
perfectly  harmless,  the  Last  of  the  Moguls  is  required  to 
report  regularly  to  the  British  commandant  and  is  not  al- 
lowed to  leave  Burma,  even  if  he  should  ever  desire  to 
do  so. 


XIV 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS 

Although  the  Moguls  have  vanished,  their  glory  re- 
mains in  the  most  sublime  and  beautiful  monuments  that 
were  ever  erected  by  human  hands,  and  people  come  from 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to  admire  them.  In  the 
form  of  fortresses,  palaces,  temples  and  tombs  they  are 
scattered  pretty  well  over  northern  India,  and  the  finest 
examples  may  be  found  at  Agra,  a  city  of  200,000  inhab- 
itants, only  a  short  ride  from  Delhi,  the  Mogul  capital. 
Agra  was  their  favorite  residence.  Akbar  the  Great  ac- 
tually removed  the  seat  of  government  there  the  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  expended  genius  and 
money  until  he  made  it  the  most  beautiful  city  in  India 
and  filled  it  with  the  most  splendid  palaces  that  were  ever 
seen.  Shah  Jehan,  his  grandson,  who  was  a  greater  man 
than  he,  and  lived  and  reigned  nearly  a  hundred  years 
after  him,  even  surpassed  him  in  architectural  ambition 
and  accomplishments.  Jehan  built  the  fort  at  Agra,  and 
the  best  specimens  of  his  architectural  work  are  within  its 
walls,  erected  between  1630  and  1637,  and  he  was  con- 
fined within  them,  the  prisoner  of  his  son  Aurangzeb,  for 
seven  years  before  his  death,  from  1658  to  1665. 

The  fortress  at  Agra  is  probably  the  grandest  citadel 
ever  erected.  It  surpasses  in  beauty  and  strength  the 
Kremlin  at  Moscow,  the  Tower  of  London,  the  citadel  at 
Toledo  and  every  other  fortress  I  know  of.     Nothing 

217 


2i8  MODERN  INDIA 

erected  in  modern  times  can  compare  with  it.  Althoiif3:h 
it  would  be  a  poor  defense  and  protection  against  modern 
projectiles,  it  was  impregnable  down  to  the  mutiny  of 
1857.  The  walls  are  two  miles  and  a  quarter  in  circum- 
ference ;  they  are  protected  by  a  moat  30  feet  wide  and  35 
feet  deep ;  they  are  70  feet  high  and  30  feet  thick,  and 
built  of  enormous  blocks  of  red  sandstone.  There  are 
two  entrances,  both  very  imposing,  one  called  the  Delhi 
Gate  and  the  other  the  Elephant  Gate,  where  there  used 
to  be  two  large  stone  elephants,  but  they  were  removed 
many  years  ago.  Within  the  walls  is  a  collection  of  the 
most  magnificent  oriental  palaces  ever  erected,  with 
mosques,  barracks,  arsenals,  storehouses,  baths  and  other 
buildings  for  residential,  official  and  military  purposes, 
all  of  them  on  the  grandest  scale.  Since  the  British  have 
had  possession  they  have  torn  down  many  of  the  old 
buildings  and  have  erected  unsightly  piles  of  brick  and 
stone  in  their  places,  but  while  such  vandalism  cannot  be 
condemned  in  terms  too  strong,  the  world  should  be 
grateful  to  them  for  leaving  the  most  characteristic  and 
costly  of  the  Mogul  residences  undisturbed.  A  small 
garrison  of  English  soldiers  is  quartered  in  the  fortress 
at  present,  just  enough  to  protect  it  and  keep  things  in 
order,  but  there  is  room  for  several  regiments,  and  dur- 
ing the  mutiny  of  1857  more  than  6,000  foreigners,  refu- 
gees from  northern  India,  found  refuge  and  protection 
here. 

Although  the  palaces  seem  bare  and  comfortless  to  us 
to-day,  and  we  wonder  how  people  could  ever  be  con- 
tented to  live  in  them,  we  are  reminded  that  when  they 
were  actually  occupied  the  open  arches  were  hung  with 
curtains,  the  marble  floors  were  spread  with  rugs  and 
covered  with  cushions,  and  the  banquet  halls  were  fur- 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  219 

nished  with  sumptuous  services  of  gold,  silver  and  linen. 
The  Moguls  were  not  ascetics.  They  loved  luxury  and 
lived  in  great  magnificence  with  every  comfort  and  con- 
venience that  the  ingenuity  and  experience  of  those  days 
could  contrive.  It  is  never  safe  to  judge  of  things  by 
your  own  standard.  You  may  always  be  sure  that  in- 
telligent people  will  adapt  themselves  in  the  best  possible 
manner  to  their  conditions  and  environment.  Those 
who  live  in  the  tropics  know  much  better  how  to  make 
themselves  comfortable  than  friends  who  visit  them  from 
the  arctic  zone.  Wise  travelers  will  always  imitate  local 
habits  and  customs  so  far  as  they  are  able  to  do  so. 
While  these  wonderful  compositions  of  carved  marble 
seem  cold  and  comfortless  as  they  stand  empty  to-day,  we 
must  not  forget  that  they  were  very  different  when  they 
were  actually  inhabited.  Some  idea  of  the  luxury  of  the 
Mogul  court  may  be  gained  from  an  account  given  by  M. 
Bernier,  a  Frenchman  who  visited  Agra  in  1663  during 
the  reign  of  Shah  Jehan.    He  says : 

"The  king  appeared  sitting  upon  his  throne,  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  great  hall  of  the  Am-kas,  splendidly  appareled. 
His  vest  was  of  white  satin,  flowered  and  raised  with  a 
very  fine  embroidery  of  gold  and  silk.  His  turban  was  of 
cloth-of-gold,  having  a  fowl  wrought  upon  it  like  a  heron, 
whose  foot  was  covered  with  diamonds  of  an  extraor- 
dinary bigness  and  price,  with  a  great  oriental  topaz, 
which  may  be  said  to  be  matchless,  shining  like  a  little 
sun.  A  collar  of  big  pearls  hung  about  his  neck  down  to 
his  stomach,  after  the  manner  that  some  of  the  heathens 
wear  their  great  beads.  His  throne  was  supported  by  six 
pillars,  or  feet,  said  to  be  of  massive  gold,  and  set  with 
rubies,  emeralds  and  diamonds,  I  am  not  able  to  tell  you 
aright  either  the  number  or  the  price  of  this  heap  of 


220  MODERN  INDIA 

precious  stones,  because  it  is  not  pcnnitted  to  come  near 
enough  to  count  them  and  to  judge  of  their  water  and 
purity.  Only  this  I  can  say :  that  the  big  diamonds  are 
there  in  confusion,  and  that  the  throne  is  estimated  to  be 
worth  four  kouroures  of  roupies,  if  I  remember  well.  I 
have  said  elsewhere  that  a  roupie  is  almost  equivalent  to 
half  a  crown,  a  lecque  to  a  hundred  thousand  roupies  and 
a  kourour  to  a  hundred  lecques,  so  that  the  throne  is 
valued  at  forty  millions  of  roupies,  which  are  worth  about 
sixty  millions  of  French  livres.  That' which  I  find  upon 
it  best  devised  are  two  peacocks  covered  with  precious 
stones  and  pearls.  Beneath  this  throne  there  appeared 
all  the  Omrahs,  in  splendid  apparel,  upon  a  raised  ground 
covered  with  a  canopy  of  purified  gold,  with  great  golden 
fringes  and  inclosed  by  a  silver  balistre.  The  pillars  of 
the  hall  were  hung  with  tapestries  of  purified  gold,  hav- 
ing the  ground  of  gold  ;  and  for  the  roof  of  the  hall  there 
was  nothing  but  great  canopies  of  flowered  satin, 
fastened  with  great  red  silken  cords  that  had  big  tufts  of 
silk  mixed  with  threads  of  gold." 

The  gem  of  the  architectural  exhibition  at  Agra,  always 
exempting  the  Taj  Mahal,  is  the  "Pearl  Mosque," 
so  called  because  it  is  built  of  stainless  white  marble, 
without  the  slightest  bit  of  color  within  except  inscrip- 
tions from  the  Koran  here  and  there  inlaid  in  precious 
stones.  It  was  the  private  chapel  of  the  Aloguls,  as  you 
might  say ;  was  built  between  1648  and  1655,  and  has 
been  pronounced  by  the  highest  authority  to  be  the  purest 
and  most  elegant  example  of  Saracenic  architecture  in 
existence.  No  lovelier  sanctuary  was  ever  erected  in 
honor  of  the  Creator.  One  of  the  inscriptions  tells  us 
that  it  was  intended  to  be  "likened  to  a  mansion  of  para- 
dise or  to  a  precious  pearl."     It  is  built  after  the  usual 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  221 

fashion,  a  square  courtyard  paved  with  white  marble  and 
surrounded  by  a  marble  colonnade  of  exquisite  arches, 
supported  by  pillars  of  perfect  grace.  The  walls  upon 
three  sides  are  solid ;  the  western  side,  looking  toward 
Mecca,  being  entirely  open,  a  succession  of  arches  sup- 
ported by  columns  exquisitely  carved.  And  the  roof  is 
crowned  with  a  forest  of  minarets  and  three  white  marble 
domes.  In  the  center  of  the  courtyard  is  a  marble  tank 
thirty-seven  feet  square  and  three  feet  deep,  in  which  the 
faithful  performed  their  ablutions  before  going  to  prayer. 
Near  by  the  mosque  is  the  Diwan-i-'Am,  or  Hall  of 
Public  Audience,  201  feet  square,  in  which  the  Moguls 
received  their  subjects  and  held  court.  The  roof  is  sup- 
ported by  nine  rows  of  graceful  columns  cut  from  red 
sandstone  and  formerly  covered  with  gold.  The  rest  of 
the  building  is  marble.  The  throne  stood  upon  a  high 
platform  in  an  alcove  of  white  marble,  richly  decorated, 
and  above  it  are  balconies  protected  by  grilles  or  screens 
behind  which  the  sultanas  were  permitted  to  watch  the 
proceedings.  Back  of  the  audience-room  is  a  great  quad- 
rangle, planted  with  trees,  flowers  and  vines.  White 
marble  walks  radiate  from  a  marble  platform  and  fountain 
basin  in  the  center,  and  divide  the  garden  into  beds  which, 
we  are  told,  were  filled  with  soil  brought  from  Cashmere 
because  of  its  richness.  And  even  to-day  gardeners 
say  that  it  is  more  productive  than  any  found  in  this 
part  of  the  country.  Around  this  court  were  the  apart- 
ments of  the  zenana,  or  harem,  occupied  by  the  mother, 
sisters,  wives  and  daughters  of  the  sultan  who  were  more 
or  less  prisoners,  but  had  considerable  area  to  wander 
about  in,  and  could  sit  in  the  jasmine  tower,  one  of  the 
most  exquisite  pieces  of  marble  work  you  can  imagine, 
and  on  the  flat  roofs  of  the  palaces,  which  were  protected 


222  MODERN  INDIA 

by  high  screens,  and  enjoy  views  over  the  surroundin,^ 
country  and  up  and  down  the  Jumna  River.  From  this 
lofty  eyrie  they  could  witness  reviews  of  the  troops  and 
catch  ghmpscs  of  the  gay  cavalcades  that  came  in  and 
out  of  the  fortress,  and  in  a  small  courtyard  was  a  bazar 
where  certain  favored  merchants  from  the  city  were  al- 
lowed to  come  and  exhibit  goods  to  the  ladies  of  the 
court.  But  these  were  the  only  glimpses  female  royalty 
ever  had  of  the  outer  world. 

No  man  was  ever  admitted  to  the  zenana  except  the 
emperor.  All  domestic  work  was  done  by  women,  who 
were  watched  on  the  outside  by  eunuchs  and  then  by 
soldiers.  They  had  their  own  place  of  worship,  the  "Gem 
Mosque"  they  called  it,  a  beautiful  little  structure  erected 
by  Shah  Jehan,  and  afterward  used  as  his  prison. 

The  baths  are  of  the  most  sumptuous  character.  The 
walls  are  decorated  with  raised  foliage  work  in  colors,  sil- 
ver and  gold,  upon  a  ground  of  mirrors,  and  the  ceiling  is 
finished  with  pounded  mica,  which  has  the  effect  of  silver. 
Fronting  the  entrance  of  the  bathrooms  are  row'S  of  lights 
over  which  the  water  poured  in  broad  sheets  into  a  basin, 
then,  running  over  a  little  marble  causeway,  fell  over  a 
second  cluster  of  lights  into  another  basin,  and  then  an- 
other and  another,  five  in  succession,  so  that  many  ladies 
were  able  to  bathe  in  these  fascinating  fountains  at  the 
same  time.  Below  the  baths  we  were  shown  some  dark 
and  dreary  vaults.  In  the  center  of  the  most  gloomy  of 
them  there  is  a  pit — a  well — which,  the  guide  told  us,  has 
its  outlet  in  the  bottom  of  the  river,  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  away.  Over  this  pit  hangs  a  heavy  beam  of  wood 
very  highly  carved,  and  in  the  center  is  a  groove  from 
which  dangles  a  silken  rope.  Here,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, unfaithful  inmates  of  the  harem  were  hanged,  and 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  223 

when  life  was  extinct  the  cord  was  cut  and  the  body  fell 
into  the  pit,  striking  the  keen  edge  of  knives  at  frequent 
intervals,  so  that  it  finally  reached  the  river  in  small  frag- 
ments, which  were  devoured  by  fishes  or  crocodiles,  or  if 
they  escaped  them,  floated  down  to  the  sea.  After  each 
execution  a  flood  of  water  was  turned  from  the  fountains 
into  the  pit  to  wash  away  the  stains. 

But  let  us  turn  from  this  terrible  place  to  the  jasmine 
tower  containing  apartments  of  the  chief  sultana,  which 
overhangs  the  walls  of  the  fort  and  is  surpassingly  beauti- 
ful :  a  series  of  rooms  entirely  of  marble — roof,  walls  and 
floor — and  surrounded  by  a  broad  marble  veranda  sup- 
ported by  noble  arches  springing  from  graceful,  slender 
pillars  arranged  in  pairs  and  protected  by  a  balustrade  of 
perforated  marble.  One  could  scarcely  imagine  anything 
more  dainty  than  these  lacelike  screens  of  stone  extreme- 
ly simple  in  design  and  exquisite  in  execution.  The  in- 
terior walls  are  incrusted  with  mosaic  work  of  jasper, 
carnelian,  lapis-lazuli,  agate,  turquoise,  bloodstone,  mal- 
achite and  other  precious  materials  in  the  form  of  foliage, 
flowers,  ornamental  scrolls,  sentences  from  the  Koran  in 
Arabic  letters  and  geometrical  patterns.  The  decoration 
is  as  beautiful  and  as  rich  as  the  Taj  Mahal,  so  far  as  it 
goes,  and  was  done  by  the  same  artists. 

There  is  a  broad  field  for  the  imagination  to  range 
about  in  and  picture  this  palace  when  it  was  a  paradise 
of  luxury  and  splendor,  filled  with  gorgeous  and  costly 
hangings,  draperies,  rugs,  couches  and  cushions.  The 
writers  of  the  time  tell  us  that  the  sultanas  had  5,000 
women  around  them  who  were  divided  into  companies. 
First  were  the  three  chief  wives,  next  in  rank  were  300 
concubines  and  the  remainder  were  dancing  girls, 
musicians,  artists,  embroiderers,  seamstresses,  hair  dress- 


224  MODERN  INDIA 

ers,  cooks  and  other  servants.  The  mother  of  the  Mogul 
was  always  the  head  of  the  household.  The  three  em- 
presses were  subject  to  her  authority,  according  to  the 
oriental  custom,  and  while  they  might  stand  first  in  the 
aflfections  of  the  Mogul  they  were  subordinate  to  his 
mother,  who  conducted  affairs  about  the  harem,  we  are 
told,  with  the  same  regularity  and  strictness  that  were 
found  in  the  executive  departments  of  the  state.  Each  of 
the  wives  received  an  allowance  according  to  her  rank. 
If  she  had  a  child,  especially  a  son,  she  was  immediately 
promoted  to  the  highest  rank,  given  larger  and  better 
quarters,  provided  with  many  more  servants  and  fur- 
nished with  a  much  larger  allowance  in  money. 

The  apartments  of  the  emperor  are  quite  plain  when 
compared  with  the  adjoining  suite  of  the  favorite  sultana, 
but  are  massive,  dignified  and  appropriate  for  a  sovereign 
of  his  wealth  and  power,  and  everything  is  finished  with 
that  peculiar  elegance  which  is  only  found  in  the  East. 
In  all  the  great  cluster  of  buildings  there  is  nothing  mean 
or  commonplace.  Every  apartment,  every  corridor,  every 
arch  and  every  column  is  perfect  and  a  wonder  of  archi- 
tectural design,  construction  and  decoration. 

From  the  emperor's  apartments  you  may  pass  through 
a  stately  pavilion  to  a  large  marble  courtyard.  Upon  one 
side  of  it,  next  to  the  wall  that  overhangs  the  river,  is  a 
slab  of  black  marble  known  as  "The  Black  Marble 
Throne."  And  upon  this  he  used  to  sit  when  hearing 
appeals  for  justice  from  his  subjects  or  other  business  of 
supreme  importance.  Upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  court 
is  a  white  marble  slab  upon  which  the  grand  vizier  sat 
and  to  the  east  is  a  platform  where  seats  were  provided 
for  the  judges,  the  nobles  and  the  grandees  of  the  court. 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  225 

In  this  pavilion  have  occurred  some  of  the  most  exciting 
scenes  in  Indian  history. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know  something  about  the 
women  who  lived  in  these  wonderful  palaces,  and  are 
buried  in  the  beautiful  tombs  at  Agra.  They  had  their 
romances  and  their  tragedies,  and  although  the  Moham- 
medan custom  kept  them  closely  imprisoned  in  the  zen- 
anas, they  nevertheless  exerted  a  powerful  influence  in 
arranging  the  destinies  of  the  Mogul  empire.  The  most 
notable  of  the  women,  and  one  who  would  have  taken  a 
prominent  part  in  affairs  in  whatever  country  or  in  what- 
ever generation  it  had  pleased  the  Almighty  to  place  her, 
was  Nur  Jehan,  sultana  of  the  Mogul  Jehanghir.  She 
lived  in  the  marble  palace  of  Agra  from  1556  to  1605;  a 
woman  of  extraordinary  force  of  character,  the  equal  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  in  intellect  and  of  Mary  Stuart  in  phys- 
ical attractions,  and  her  life  was  a  mixture  of  romance 
and  tragedy.  Her  father,  Mizra  Gheas  Bey,  or  Itimad- 
Ud  Daula,  as  he  was  afterward  known,  was  grand  vizier 
cf  the  Mogul  empire  during  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Akbar  the  Great,  An  obscure  but  ambitious  Persian 
scholar,  hearing  of  the  generous  patronage  extended  to 
students  by  Emperor  Akbar  in  India,  he  started  from 
Teheran  to  Delhi  overland,  a  distance  of  several  thousand 
miles.  He  had  means  enough  to  buy  a  donkey  for  his 
wife  to  ride,  and  trudged  along  with  a  caravan  on  foot 
beside  the  animal  to  protect  her  and  the  panniers  which 
contained  all  their  earthly  possessions.  The  morning 
after  the  caravan  reached  Kandahar,  Turkestan,  a  daugh- 
ter was  born  to  the  wife  of  Mirza,  and  was,  naturally,  a 
great  source  of  anxiety  and  embarrassment  to  him,  but 
the  principal  merchant  of  the  caravan,  struck  with  the 
beauty  of  the  child  and  with  sympathy  for  the  mother, 


226  MODERN  INDIA 

provided  for  their  immediate  needs,  took  them  with  him 
to  Aj^ra  and  there  used  his  good  offices  with  the  officials 
in  behalf  of  the  father,  who  was  ^iven  employment  under 
the  government.  His  ability  and  fidelity  were  soon  rec- 
ognized. He  was  promoted  rapidly,  and  finally  reached 
the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  Mogul — that  of  prime 
minister  of  the  empire — which  he  filled  with  conspicuous 
ability,  wisdom  and  prudence  for  many  years.  As  his 
daughter  grew  to  girlhood  she  attracted  the  attention  of 
Prince  Jehanghir,  who  became  violently  in  love  with  her, 
and,  to  prevent  complications,  the  emperor  caused  her  to 
be  married  to  Shir  Afghan  Kahn,  a  young  Persian  of  ex- 
cellent family,  who  was  made  viceroy  of  Bengal,  and 
took  his  wife  with  him  to  Calcutta. 

Several  years  later,  when  Jehanghir  ascended  the 
throne,  he  had  not  forgotten  the  beautiful  Persian,  and 
sent  emissaries  to  Calcutta  to  arrange  with  her  husband 
for  a  divorce  so  that  he  might  take  her  into  his  own 
harem.  Shir  Afghan  refused,  and  the  king  ordered  his 
assassination.  Nur  Jehan  undoubtedly  loved  her  hus- 
band, and  sincerely  mourned  him.  She  repelled  the  ad- 
dresses of  the  emperor,  and  for  several  years  earned  her 
living  by  embroidery  and  painting  silks.  One  day  the 
emperor  surprised  her  in  her  apartment.  He  was  the 
only  man  in  India  who  had  the  right  to  intrude  upon  his 
lady  subjects,  but  seems  to  have  used  it  with  rare  discre- 
tion. When  she  recognized  her  visitor  she  bowed  her 
head  to  the  floor  nine  times  in  accordance  with  the  cus- 
tom of  the  country ;  and  although  she  was  wearing  the 
simplest  of  garments,  she  had  lost  none  of  her  beauty  or 
graces,  and  treated  the  Mogul  with  becoming  modesty 
and  dignity.  When  he  reproached  her  for  her  plain  at- 
tire she  replied : 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  227 

"Those  born  to  servitude  must  dress  as  it  shall  please 
them  whom  they  serve.  Those  women  around  me  are  my 
servants  and  I  lighten  their  bondage  by  every  indulgence 
in  my  power ;  and  I,  who  am  your  slave,  O  Emperor  of 
the  World,  am  willing  to  dress  according  to  your  pleasure 
and  not  my  own." 

This  significant  retort  pleased  His  Majesty  immensely, 
and,  with  the  facilities  that  were  afforded  emperors  in 
those  days,  he  had  her  sent  at  once  to  the  imperial  harem, 
where  she  was  provided  with  every  possible  comfort  and 
luxury  and  was  promoted  rapidly  over  the  other  women. 
She  received  the  title  Nur  Jehan  Begam  (Light  of  the 
World).  The  Emperor  granted  her  the  right  of  sover- 
eignty in  her  own  name ;  her  portrait  was  placed  upon 
the  coin  of  the  country ;  and  after  several  years  her  power 
became  so  great  that  the  officials  would  not  obey  any  im- 
portant order  from  his  majesty  unless  it  bore  her  indorse- 
ment. He  willingly  submitted  to  her  judgment  and 
counsel.  She  repressed  his  passions,  caprices  and  prej- 
udices, and  when  any  matter  of  serious  importance  arose 
in  the  administration  of  affairs,  it  was  submitted  to  her 
before  action  was  taken.  Her  beauty  and  her  graces 
were  the  theme  of  all  the  poets  of  India,  and  her  good- 
ness, the  kindness  of  her  heart  and  her  unbounded  gen- 
erosity are  preserved  by  innumerable  traditions.  She 
was  the  godmother  of  all  orphan  girls  and  provided  their 
dowers  when  they  were  married,  and  it  is  said  that  dur- 
ing her  reign  she  procured  good  husbands  for  thousands 
of  friendless  girls  who  otherwise  must  have  spent  their 
lives  in  slavery.  Thus  the  child  of  the  desert  became  the 
most  powerful  influence  in  the  East,  for  in  those  days 
the  authority  of  the  Mogul  extended  from  the  Ganges  to 
the  Bosporus  and  the  Baltic  Sea. 


228  MODERN  INDIA 

Nur  Jelian  took  good  care  of  her  own  family.  Her 
father  continued  to  occupy  the  office  of  grand  vizier  until 
his  death,  and  her  brother,  Asaf  Khan,  became  high 
treasurer  of  the  empire  and  father-in-law  of  the  Mogul. 
Other  relatives  were  placed  in  remunerative  and  in- 
fluential positions.  But  at  last  she  made  a  blunder,  and 
failed  to  secure  the  crown  for  her  son,  Sheriar,  who, 
being  a  younger  member  of  the  family,  was  not  entitled 
to  it,  and  Shah  Jehan,  the  oldest  son  of  the  Mogul  by 
another  wife,  succeeded  him  to  the  throne. 

Shah  Jehan  promptly  murdered  his  ambitious  brother, 
as  was  the  amiable  custom  of  those  days,  but  treated  his 
father's  famous  widow  with  great  respect  and  generosity. 
He  presented  her  with  a  magnificent  palace,  gave  her  an 
allowance  of  $1,250,000  a  year  and  accepted  her  pledge 
that  she  would  interfere  no  longer  in  politics.  She  sur- 
vived nineteen  years  and  devoted  her  time  and  talents 
thereafter  and  several  millions  of  dollars  to  the  construc- 
tion of  a  tomb  to  the  memory  of  her  father,  which  still 
stands  as  one  of  the  finest  of  the  group  of  architectural 
wonders  of  Agra.  It  is  situated  in  a  walled  garden  on 
the  bank  of  the  River  Jumna  about  a  mile  and  a  half 
from  the  hotels,  and  is  constructed  entirely  of  white 
marble.  The  sides  are  of  the  most  beautiful  perforated 
work,  and  the  towers  are  of  exquisite  design.  Much 
of  the  walls  are  covered  with  the  Florentine  mosaic  work 
similar  to  that  which  distinguishes  the  Taj  Mahal. 

Shah  Jehan,  the  greatest  of  all  the  Moguls,  had  many 
wives,  and  three  in  particular.  One  of  them  was  a 
Hindu,  of  whom  we  know  very  little ;  another  was  a  Mo- 
hammedan, the  daughter  of  Asaf  Khan,  high  treasurer 
of  the  empire  and  the  niece  of  Nur  Jehan.  She  is  the  wo- 
man who  sleeps  in  the  Taj   Mahal,  the  most  beautiful 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  229 

of  all  human  structures.  The  third  was  Miriam,  a  Por- 
tuguese Christian  princess,  who  never  renounced  her  re- 
ligion, and  built  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  a  park 
outside  the  walls  of  Agra  in  connection  with  a  palace  pro- 
vided for  her  special  residence.  This  marriage  was 
brought  about  through  the  influence  of  the  governor  of 
the  Portuguese  colony  at  Goa,  200  miles  south  of  Bom- 
bay, and  illustrates  the  liberality  of  Shah  Jehan  in  reli- 
gious matters.  He  not  only  tolerated,  but  invited  Catho- 
lic missionaries  to  come  into  his  empire  and  preach  their 
doctrines,  and  although  we  know  very  little  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Sultana  Miriam,  and  her  life  must  have 
been  rather  lonely  and  isolated,  yet  the  king  did  not 
require  her  to  remain  in  the  harem  with  his  other  wives, 
but  gave  her  an  independent  establishment  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  city,  where  she  was  attended  by  ladies 
of  her  own  race  and  religion.  Her  palace  has  disap- 
peared, but  the  church  she  built  is  still  standing,  and  her 
tomb  is  preserved.  By  successive  changes  they  have 
passed  under  the  control  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
her  grounds  are  now  occupied  by  an  orphanage  under 
the  superintendence  of  a  Mr.  Moore,  who  has  360  young 
Hindus  under  his  care.  The  fathers  and  mothers  of 
most  of  them  died  during  the  famine  and  he  is  teaching 
them  useful  trades.  We  stopped  to  talk  to  some  of  the 
children  as  we  drove  about  the  place,  but  did  not  get 
much  information.  The  boys  giggled  and  ran  away  and 
the  workmen  were  surprisingly  ignorant  of  their  own 
affairs,  which,  I  have  discovered,  is  a  habit  Hindus  culti- 
vate when  they  meet  strangers. 

Akbar  the  Great  is  buried  in  a  cofifin  of  solid  gold  in 
a  mausoleum  of  exquisite  beauty  about  six  miles  from 
Agra  on  the  road  to  Delhi.     It  is  another  architectural 


230  MODERN  INDIA 

wonder.  Many  critics  consider  it  almost  equal  to  Taj 
Mahal.  It  is  reached  by  a  lovely  drive  alon£^  a  splendid 
road  that  runs  like  a  green  aisle  through  a  grove  of  noble 
old  trees  whose  boughs  are  inhabited  by  myriads  of  par- 
rots and  monkeys.  The  mausoleum  is  quite  different 
from  any  other  that  we  have  seen,  being  a  sort  of  pyra- 
mid of  four  open  platforms,  standing  on  columns.  These 
are  of  red  sandstone  and  the  fourth,  where  rests  the 
tomb  of  the  great  Mogul,  of  marble.  The  lower  stories 
are  frescoed  and  decorated  elaborately  in  blue  and  gold. 
The  fourth  or  highest  platform  is  a  beautiful  little 
cloister  of  the  purest  white.  No  description  in  words 
could  possibly  do  it  justice  or  convey  anything  like  an 
accurate  idea  of  its  beauty.  Imagine,  if  you  can,  a 
platform  eighty  feet  from  the  ground  reached  by  beauti- 
ful stairways  and  inclosed  by  roofless  walls  of  the  purest 
marble  that  was  ever  quarried.  These  walls  are  divided 
into  panels.  Each  panel  contains  a  slab  of  marble  about 
an  inch  thick  and  perforated  like  the  finest  of  lace.  The 
divisions  and  frame  work,  the  base  and  frieze  are  chiseled 
with  embroidery  in  stone  such  as  can  be  found  nowhere 
else.  There  is  no  roof  but  the  sky.  In  the  center  of  this 
lofty  chamber  stands  a  solid  block  of  marble  which  is 
covered  with  inscriptions  from  the  Koran  in  graceful, 
flowing  Persian  text.  Sealed  within  that  cenotaph  are 
the  remains  of  the  great  Akbar. 

About  three  feet  from  his  head  stands  a  low  marble 
column  exquisitely  carved.  It  is  about  four  feet  high, 
and  in  the  center  of  the  top  is  a  defect,  a  rough  hole, 
which  seems  to  have  been  left  there  intentionally.  When 
the  mighty  Akbar  died,  his  son  and  successor,  the  Em- 
peror Jehanghir,  imbedded  in  the  center  of  that  column, 
where  it  might  be  admired  by  the  thousands  of  people 


THE  ARCHITECTURE  OF  THE  MOGULS  231 

who  came  to  the  tomb  every  day,  the  Kohinoor,  then  the 
most  valued  diamond  in  the  world  and  still  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  jewels,  and  chief  ornament  in  the  British 
crown.  It  was  one  of  the  most  audacious  exhibitions  of 
wealth  and  recklessness  ever  made,  but  the  stone  re- 
mained there  in  the  open  air,  guarded  only  by  the  ordi- 
nary custodian  of  the  tomb,  from  1668  to  1739,  when 
Nadir,  Shah  of  Persia,  invaded  India,  captured  Delhi, 
sacked  the  palaces  of  the  moguls,  and  carried  back  to  his 
own  country  more  than  $300,000,000  worth  of  their 
treasures.. 


XV 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  an  Arab  woman  named 
Arjumand  Banu.  We  know  very  little  about  her,  except 
that  she  lived  in  Agra,  India,  and  was  the  Sultana  of 
Shah  Jehan,  the  greatest  of  the  Mogul  emperors.  She 
must  have  been  a  good  woman  and  a  good  wife,  because, 
after  eighteen  years  of  married  life,  and  within  twelve 
months  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  in  1629,  she  died 
in  giving  birth  to  her  fourteenth  baby.  And  her  husband 
loved  her  so  much  that  he  sheltered  her  grave  with  a 
mausoleum  which,  without  question  or  reservation,  is 
pronounced  by  all  architects  and  critics  to  be  the  most 
beautiful  building  in  the  world — the  most  sublime  and 
perfect  work  of  human  hands. 

It  is  called  the  Taj  IMahal,  which  means  "The  Crown 
of  the  Palaces,"  and  is  pronounced  Taash  Mahal,  with 
the  accent  on  the  last  syllable  of  the  last  word.  Its  arch- 
itect is  not  definitely  known,  but  the  design  is  supposed 
to  have  been  made  by  Ustad  Isa,  a  Persian,  who  was 
assisted  by  Geronino  Verroneo,  an  Italian,  and  Austin  de 
Bordeaux,  a  Frenchman.  They  are  credited  with  the 
mosaics  and  other  decorations.  Austin  designed  and 
made  the  famous  peacock  throne  at  Delhi.  Governor  La 
Fouche  of  that  province,  who  has  carefully  restored  the 
park  that  surrounds  the  building,  and  is  keeping  things 
up  in  a  way  that  commands  hearty  commendation,  has 

232 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  233 

the  original  plans  and  specifications,  which  were  dis- 
covered among  the  archives  of  the  Moguls  in  Delhi  after 
the  mutiny  of  1857.  The  records  show  also  that  the 
tomb  cost  more  than  $20,000,000  of  American  money, 
not  including  labor,  for  like  those  other  famous  sepul- 
chers,  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  this  wonderful  structure  was 
erected  by  forced  labor,  by  unpaid  workmen,  who  were 
drafted  from  their  shops  and  farms  by  order  of  the  Mogul 
for  that  purpose,  and,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
time,  they  were  compelled  to  support  themselves  as  well 
as  their  families  during  the  period  of  their  employment. 
Thousands  of  those  poor,  helpless  creatures  died  of  starv- 
ation and  exhaustion ;  thousands  perished  of  disease,  and 
thousands  more,  including  women  and  children,  suffered 
untold  distress  and  agony,  all  because  one  loving  hus- 
band desired  to  do  honor  to  the  favorite  among  his  many 
wives.  The  workmen  were  changed  at  intervals,  20,000 
being  constantly  employed  for  twenty-two  years  upon 
this  eulogy  in  marble.  The  descendants  of  some  of  the 
artists  engaged  upon  its  matchless  decoration  still  live 
in  Agra  and  enjoy  a  certain  distinction  because  of  their 
ancestry.  Forty  or  fifty  of  them  were  employed  by  Gov- 
ernor La  Fouche  in  making  repairs  and  restorations  in 
1902,  and  a  dozen  or  more  are  still  at  work.  It  is  cus- 
tomary in  that  country  for  sons  to  follow  the  occupations 
of  their  fathers. 

The  road  to.  the  Taj  Mahal  from  the  City  of  Agra 
crosses  the  River  Jumna,  winds  about  among  modern 
bungalows  in  which  British  officials  and  military  officers 
reside,  alternating  with  the  ruins  of  ancient  palaces, 
tombs,  temples  and  shrines  which  are  allowed  to  deface 
the  landscape.  Some  of  the  fields  are  cultivated,  and  in 
December,  when  we  were  there,  the  business  of  the  farm- 


234  MODERN  INDIA 

ers  seemed  chiefly  to  be  that  of  hoisting  water  from 
wells  to  irrigate  their  crops.  They  have  a  curious  meth- 
od. A  team  of  oxen  hoists  the  buckets  with  a  long  rope 
running  over  a  pulley,  and  every  time  they  make  a  trip 
along  the  well-worn  pathway  they  dump  a  barrel  or  more 
or  much  needed  moisture  into  a  ditch  that  feeds  the 
thirsty  ground. 

The  roadway  is  well  kept.  It  was  made  several  centu- 
ries ago,  and  was  put  in  perfect  order  in  1902  on  account 
of  the  Imperial  durbar  at  Delhi,  which  brought  thousands 
of  critical  strangers  to  see  the  Taj  Mahal,  which  really  is 
the  greatest  sight  in  India,  and  is  more  famous  than  any 
other  building,  except  perhaps  Westminster  Abbey  and 
St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  Rome.  The  road  leads  up  to  a 
superb  gateway  of  red  sandstone  inlaid  with  inscriptions 
from  the  Koran  in  white  marble,  and  surmounted  by 
twenty-six  small  marble  domes,  Moorish  kiosks,  arches 
and  pinnacles.  This  gateway  is  considered  one  of  the 
finest  architectural  monuments  in  all  India.  Bayard  Tay- 
lor pronounced  it  equal  to  the  Taj  itself. 

You  pass  under  a  noble  arch  one  hundred  and  forty 
feet  high  and  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  wide, 
which  is  guarded  by  a  group  of  Moslem  priests 
and  a  squad  of  native  soldiers  who  protect  the  property 
from  vandals.  Having  passed  this  gateway  you  find 
yourself  at  the  top  of  a  flight  of  wide  steps  overlooking 
a  great  garden,  which  was  originally  laid  out  by  the  Mo- 
gul Shah  Jehan  and  by  Lord  Curzon's  orders  was  re- 
stored last  year  as  nearly  as  possible  to  its  original  con- 
dition and  appearance.  About  fifty  acres  are  inclosed 
by  a  high  wall  of  a  design  appropriate  to  its  purpose. 
There  are  groups  of  cypress  equal  in  size  and  beauty 
to  any  in  India ;  groves  of  orange  and  lemon  trees,  palms 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  235 

and  pomegranates,  flowering  plants  and  shrubs,  through 
which  winding  walks  of  gravel  have  been  laid.  From 
the  steps  of  the  gateway  to  the  tomb  is  a  vista  about  a 
hundred  feet  wide  paved  with  white  and  black  marble 
with  tessellated  designs,  inclosed  with  walls  of  cypress 
boughs.  In  the  center  are  a  series  of  tanks,  or  marble 
basins,  fed  from  fountains-,  and  goldfish  swim  about  in 
the  limpid  water.  This  vista,  of  course,  was  intended  to 
make  the  first  view  as  impressive  as  possible,  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  there  is  no  other  equal  to  it.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  marble-paved  tunnel  of  trees,  against  a 
cloudless  sky,  rises  the  most  symmetrical,  the  most  per- 
fect, perhaps  the  only  faultless  human  structure  in  exist- 
ence. At  first  one  is  inclined  to  be  a  little  bewildered, 
a  little  dazed,  as  if  the  senses  were  paralyzed,  and  could 
not  adjust  themselves  to  this  "poem  in  marble,"  or  "vis- 
ion in  marble,"  or  "dream  in  marble,"  as  poets  and 
artists  have  rhapsodized  over  it  for  four  centuries. 

No  building  has  been  more  often  described  and 
sketched  and  painted  and  photographed.  For  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  it  has  appeared  as  an  illustration  in 
the  chapter  on  India  in  geographies,  atlases  and  gazet- 
teers ;  it  is  used  as  a  model  in  architectural  text-books, 
and  of  course  is  reproduced  in  every  book  that  is  written 
about  India.  It  has  been  modeled  in  gold,  silver,  alabaster, 
wax  and  every  other  material  that  yields  to  the  sculptor's 
will,  yet  no  counterfeit  can  ever  give  a  satisfactory  idea 
of  its  loveliness,  the  purity  of  the  material  of  which  it 
is  made,  the  perfection  of  its  proportions,  the  richness  of 
its  decorations  and  the  exquisite  accuracy  achieved  by  its 
builders.  Some  one  has  said  that  the  Moguls  designed 
like  giants  and  finished  like  jewelers,  and  that  epigram  is 
emphasized  in  the  Taj  Mahal.     Any  portion  of  it,  any 


236  MODERN  INDIA 

feature,  if  taken  individually,  would  be  enough  to  im- 
mortalize the  architect,  for  every  part  is  equally  perfect, 
equally  chaste,  equally  beautiful. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  it.  You  can  find  de- 
scriptions by  great  pens  in  many  books.  Sir  Edwin  Ar- 
nold has  done  it  up  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  and 
sprawled  all  over  the  dictionary  without  conveying  the 
faintest  idea  of  its  glories  and  loveliness.  It  cannot  be 
described.  One  might  as  well  attempt  to  describe  a 
Beethoven  symphony,  for,  if  architecture  be  frozen  mu- 
sic, as  some  poet  has  said,  the  Taj  Mahal  is  the  supremest 
and  sublimest  composition  that  human  genius  has  pro- 
duced. But,  without  using  architectural  terms,  or  gush- 
ing any  more  about  it,  I  will  give  you  a  few  plain  facts. 

The  Taj  Mahal  stands,  as  I  have  already  told  you,  at 
the  bottom  of  a  lovely  garden  surrounded  by  groves  of 
cypress  trees,  on  the  bank  of  the  River  Jumna,  opposite 
the  great  fortress  of  Agra,  where,  from  the  windows  of 
his  palace,  the  king  could  always  see  the  snowwhite 
domes  and  minarets  which  cover  the  ashes  of  his  Arab 
wife.  Its  base  is  a  marble  terrace  400  feet  square,  ele- 
vated eighteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  garden,  with 
benches  arranged  around  so  that  one  can  sit  and  look 
and  look  and  look  until  its  wonderful  beauty  soaks  slowly 
into  his  consciousness;  until  the  soul  is  saturated.  Ris- 
ing from  the  terrace  eighteen  feet  is  a  marble  pedestal  or 
platform  313  feet  square,  each  corner  being  marked  with 
a  marble  minaret  137  feet  high ;  so  slender,  so  graceful, 
so  delicate  that  you  cannot  conceive  anything  more  so. 
Within  their  walls  are  winding  staircases  by  which  one 
can  reach  narrow  balconies  like  those  on  lighthouses  and 
look  upon  the  Taj  from  different  heights  and  study  its 
detiils  from  the  top  as  well  as  the  bottom.     The  domes 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  237 

that  crown  these  four  minarets  are  exact  miniatures  of 
that  which  covers  the  tomb. 

On  the  east  and  on  the  west  sides  of  the  terrace  are 
mosques  built  after  Byzantine  designs  of  deep  red  sand- 
stone, which  accentuates  the  purity  of  the  marble  of 
which  the  tomb  is  made  in  a  most  effective  manner.  At 
any  other  place,  with  other  surroundings,  these  mosques 
would  be  regarded  worthy  of  prolonged  study  and  un- 
bounded admiration,  but  here  they  pass  almost  unnoticed. 
Like  the  trees  of  the  gardens  and  the  river  that  flows  at 
the  foot  of  the  terrace,  they  are  only  an  humble  part  of 
the  frame  which  incloses  the  great  picture.  They  are  in- 
tended to  serve  a  purpose,  and  they  serve  it  well.  In 
beauty  they  are  surpassed  only  by  the  tomb  itself. 

One  of  the  mosques  has  recently  been  put  in  perfect 
repair  and  the  other  is  undergoing  restoration,  by  order 
of  Lord  Curzon,  who  believes  that  the  architectural  and 
archaeological  monuments  of  ancient  India  should  be 
preserved  and  protected,  and  he  is  spending  considerable 
government  money  for  that  purpose.  This  policy  has 
been  criticised  by  certain  Christian  missionaries,  who,  like 
the  iconoclasts  of  old,  would  tear  down  heathen  temples 
and  desecrate  heathen  tombs.  Many  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful examples  of  ancient  Hindu  architecture  have  al- 
ready been  destroyed  by  government  authority,  and  the 
material  of  which  they  were  built  has  been  utilized  in  the 
construction  of  barracks  and  fortresses.  You  may  not 
perhaps  believe  it,  but  there  are  still  living  in  India  men 
who  call  themselves  servants  of  the  Lord,  who  would 
erase  every  other  monument  that  is  in  any  way  associated 
with  pagan  worship  or  traditions.  They  would  destroy 
even  the  Taj  Mahal  itself,  and  then  thank  God  for  the 


238  MODERN  INDIA 

opportunity  of  performing  such  a  barbarous  act  in  His 
service. 

Midway  between  the  two  red  mosques  rises  a  majestic 
pile  of  pure  white  marble  i86  feet  square,  with  the  cor- 
ners cut  off.  It  measures  eighty  feet  from  its  pedestal 
to  its  roof,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  dome  also  eighty  feet 
high,  measuring  from  the  roof,  and  fifty-eight  feet  in 
diameter.  Upon  the  summit  of  the  dome  is  a  spire  of 
gilded  copper  twenty-eight  feet  high,  making  the  entire 
structure  224  feet  from  the  turf  of  the  garden  to  the  tip 
of  the  spire.  All  of  the  domes  are  shaped  like  inverted 
turnips  after  the  Byzantine  style.  Four  small  ones  sur- 
round the  central  dome,  exact  duplicates  and  one-eighth 
of  its  size,  and  they  are  arranged  upon  arches  upon  the 
flat  roof  of  the  building.  From  each  of  the  eight  angles 
of  the  roof  springs  a  delicate  spire  or  pinnacle,  an  exact 
duplicate  of  the  great  minarets  in  the  corners,  each  six- 
teen feet  high,  and  they  are  so  slender  that  they  look  like 
alabaster  pencils  glistening  in  the  sunshine.  The  same 
duplication  is  carried  out  through  the  entire  building. 
The  harmony  is  complete.  Every  tower,  every  dome, 
every  arch,  is  exactly  like  every  other  tower,  dome  and 
arch,  differing  only  in  dimensions. 

The  building  is  entered  on  the  north  and  south  sides 
through  enormous  pointed  arches  of  perfect  proportions 
reaching  above  the  roof  and  at  each  corner  of  the  frames 
that  inclose  them  is  another  minaret,  a  miniature  of  the 
rest.  Each  of  the  six  faces  of  the  remainder  of  the  oc- 
tagon is  pierced  by  two  similar  arches,  one  above  the 
other,  opening  upon  galleries  which  serve  to  break  the 
force  of  the  sun,  to  moderate  the  heat  and  to  subdue  the 
light.  They  form  a  sort  of  colonnade  around  the  building 
above  and  below,  and  are  separated  from  the  rotunda 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  239 

by  screens  of  perforated  alabaster,  as  exquisite  and  deli- 
cate in  design  and  execution  as  Brussels  point  lace.  The 
slabs  of  alabaster,  12  by  8  feet  in  size,  are  pierced  with 
filigree  work  finely  finished  as  if  they  were  intended  to  be 
worn  as  jewels  upon  the  crown  of  an  empress.  I  am 
told  that  there  is  no  stone  work  to  compare  with  this  any- 
where else  on  earth.  Hence  it  was  not  in  Athens,  nor  in 
Rome,  but  in  northern  India  that  the  chisel  of  the  sculp- 
tor attained  its  most  perfect  precision  and  achieved  its 
greatest  triumphs.  All  of  the  light  that  reaches  the  in- 
terior is  filtered  through  this  trellis  work. 

The  rotunda  is  unbroken,  fifty-eight  feet  in  diameter 
and  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  from  the  floor  to  the 
apex  of  the  dome.  Like  every  other  part  of  the  building, 
it  is  of  the  purest  white  marble,  inlaid  with  mosaics  of 
precious  stones.  The  walls,  the  pillars,  the  wainscoting 
and  the  entire  exterior  as  well  as  the  interior  of  the  build- 
ing are  the  same.  You  have  doubtless  seen  brooches, 
earrings,  sleeve-buttons  and  other  ornaments  of  Floren- 
tine mosaic,  with  floral  and  other  designs  worked 
out  with  different  colored  stones  inlaid  on  black  or 
white  marble.  You  can  buy  paper  weights  of  that  sort, 
and  table  tops  which  represent  months  of  labor  and  the 
most  exact  workmanship.  They  are  very  expensive  be- 
cause of  the  skill  and  the  time  required  to  execute  them. 
Well,  upon  the  walls  of  the  tomb  of  the  Princess  Arja- 
mand  are  about  two  acres  of  surface  covered  with  such 
mosaics  as  fine  and  as  perfect  as  if  each  setting  were  a 
jewel  intended  for  a  queen  to  wear — turquoise,  coral, 
garnet,  carnelian,  jasper,  malachite,  agate,  lapis  lazuli, 
onyx,  nacre,  bloodstone,  tourmaline,  sardonyx  and  a  doz- 
en other  precious  stones  of  different  colors.  The  guide 
book  says  that  twenty-eight  different  varieties  of  stone, 


240  MODERN  INDIA 

many  of  them  unknown  to  modern  times,  are  inlaid  in 
the  walls  of  marble. 

The  most  beautiful  of  these  embellishments  are  in- 
scriptions, chiefly  passages  from  the  Koran  and  tributes 
of  praise  to  "The  Exalted  One  of  the  Palace"  who  lies 
buried  there,  worked  out  in  Arabic  and  Persian  char- 
acters, which  are  the  most  artistic  of  any  language,  and 
lend  themselves  gracefully  to  decorative  purposes.  The 
ninety-nine  names  of  God,  which  pious  Mussulmans  love 
to  inscribe,  appear  in  several  places.  Over  the  archway 
of  the  entrance  is  an  inscription  in  Persian  characters 
wdiich  reads  like  a  paraphrase  of  the  beatitudes : 

"Onlv  the  Pure  in  Heart  can  Enter  the  Garden  of 
God."  ' 

This  arch  was  once  inclosed  by  silver  doors,  which  were 
carried  off  by  the  Persians  when  they  invaded  India  and 
sacked  the  palaces  of  Agra  in  1739. 

There  is  no  wood  or  metal  in  this  building ;  not  a  nail 
or  a  screw  or  a  bolt  of  any  sort.  It  is  entirely  of  marble, 
mortised  and  fastened  with  cement. 

The  acoustic  properties  of  the  rotunda  are  remarkable 
and  a  sound  uttered  by  a  human  voice  will  creep  around 
its  curves  repeating  and  repeating  itself  like  the  vibra- 
tions of  the  gongs  of  Burmese  temples,  until  it  is  lost  in 
a  whisper  at  the  apex  of  the  dome.  I  should  like  to  hear 
a  violin  there  or  a  hymn  softly  sung  by  some  great  artist. 

In  the  center  of  the  rotunda  Shah  Jehan  and  his  be- 
loved wife  are  supposed  to  lie  side  by  side  in  marble 
caskets,  inlaid  with  rich  gems  and  erribellished  by  infinite 
skill  with  lacelike  tracery.  But  their  bodies  are  actually 
buried  in  the  basement,  and,  the  guides  assert,  in  coffins 
of  solid  gold.  She  for  whom  this  tomb  was  built  occu- 
pies the  center.     Her  lord  and  lover,  because  he  was  a 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  241 

man  and  an  emperor,  was  entitled  to  a  larger  sarcopha- 
gus, a  span  loftier  and  a  span  longer.  Both  of  the  cen- 
otaphs are  embellished  with  inlaid  and  carved  Arabic 
inscriptions.  Upon  his,  in  Persian  characters,  are  written 
these  words : 

"His  Majesty,  King  of  Kings,  Lord  of  Lords,  Shadow 
of  Allah,  whose  Court  is  now  in  Heaven ;  Saith  Jesus, 
on  whom  be  peace,  This  World  is  a  Bridge ;  Pass  thou 
over  it.  Build  not  upon  it !  It  lasteth  but  an  Hour ;  De- 
vote its  Minutes  to  thy  Prayers ;  for  the  Rest  is  Unseen 
and  Unknown !" 

No  other  person  has  such  a  tomb  as  this ;  nor  pope,  nor 
potentate,  nor  emperor.  Nowhere  else  have  human  pride 
and  wealth  and  genius  struggled  so  successfully  against 
the  forgetfulness  of  man.  The  Princess  Arjamand  has 
little  place  in  history,  but  a  devoted,  loving  husband  has 
rescued  her  name  from  oblivion,  and  has  immortalized 
her  by  making  her  dust  the  tenant  of  the  most  majestic 
and  beautiful  of  all  human  monuments. 

Everybody  admits  that  the  Taj  Mahal  is  the  noblest 
tribute  of  affection  and  the  most  perfect  triumph  of  the 
architectural  art  in  existence,  and  the  beautiful  edifices 
in  the  fort  at  Agra,  which  we  also  owe  to  Shah  Jehan,  the 
greatest  of  the  Moguls,  have  already  been  mentioned 
but  I  am  conscious  that  my  words  are  weak.  It  is  not 
possible  to  describe  them  accurately.  No  pen  can  do 
them  justice.  The  next  best  work  in  India,  a  group  of 
buildings  second  only  to  those  in  Agra,  and  in  many  re- 
spects their  equal,  are  credited  to  Akbar  the  Great,  grand- 
father of  Shah  Jehan,  He  reigned  from  1556  to  1605. 
They  may  be  found  at  Fattehpur-Sikir  (the  City  of  Vic- 
tory), twenty-two  miles  from  Agra  on  the  Delhi  road, 
occupying  a  rocky  ridge,  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall  with 


242  MODERN  INDIA 

battlements  and  towers.  The  emperor  intended  these 
palaces  to  be  his  summer  residence,  and  was  followed 
there  by  many  of  the  rich  nobles  of  the  court,  who  built 
mansions  and  villas  of  corresponding  size  and  splendor 
to  gratify  him  and  their  own  vanity — but  all  its  magnifi- 
cence was  wasted,  strange  to  say.  The  city  was  built  and 
abandoned  within  fifty  years.  Perhaps  Akbar  became 
tired  of  it,  but  the  records  tell  us  that  it  was  impossible 
to  secure  a  water  supply  sufficient  for  the  requirements 
of  the  population  and  that  the  location  was  exceedingly 
unhealthy  because  of  malaria.  Therefore  the  king  and 
the  court,  the  officials  of  the  government,  with  the  clerks 
and  servants,  the  military  garrison  and  the  merchants 
who  supplied  their  wants,  all  packed  up  and  moved  away, 
most  of  them  going  back  to  Agra,  where  they  came  from, 
leaving  the  glorious  marble  palaces  without  tenants  and 
allowing  them  to  crumble  and  decay. 

Abandoned  cities  and  citadels  are  not  unusual  in  India. 
I  have  already  told  you  of  one  near  Jeypore  where  even 
a  larger  population  were  compelled  to  desert  their  homes 
and  business  houses  for  similar  reasons — the  lack  of  a 
sufficient  water  supply,  and  there  are  several  others  in 
different  parts  of  India.  Some  of  them  are  in  a  fair  state 
of  preservation,  others  are  almost  razed  to  the  ground, 
and  their  walls  have  been  used  as  quarries  for 
building  stone  in  the  erection  of  other  cities.  But 
nowhere  can  be  found  so  grand,  so  costly  and  so  ex- 
tensive a  group  of  empty  and  useless  palaces  as  at  Fat- 
tehpur-Sikri. 

The  origin  of  the  town,  according  to  tradition,  is  quite 
interesting.  When  Akbar  was  returning  from  one  of  his 
military  campaigns  he  camped  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  and 
learned  that  a  wise  and  holy  Brahmin  named  Shekh  Selim 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  243 

Chishli,  who  resided  in  a  cave  among  the  rocks,  exercised  t-v 

powerful  influence  among  the  Hindu  deities.  Akbar  was 
a  Mohammedan,  but  of  liberal  mind,  and  had  not  the 
slightest  compunction  about  consulting  with  a  clergyman 
of  another  denomination.  This  was  the  more  natural 
because  his  favorite  wife  was  a  Hindu  princess,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Maharaja  of  Jeypore,  and  she  was  extremely 
anxious  to  have  a  child.  She  had  given  birth  to  twins 
some  years  previous,  but  to  her  deep  grief  and  that  of  the 
emperor,  they  had  died  in  infancy. 

The  holy  man  on  the  hill  at  Fattehpur  was  believed  to 
have  tremendous  influence  with  those  deities  who  con- 
trol the  coming  of  babies  into  this  great  world ;  hence 
the  emperor  and  his  sultana  visited  Shekh  Selim  in  his 
rock  retreat  to  solicit  his  interposition  for  the  birth  of 
a  son.  Now,  the  hermit  had  a  son  only  6  months  old, 
who,  the  evening  after  the  visit  of  the  emperor,  noticed 
that  his  father's  face  wore  a  dejected  expression.  Hav- 
ing never  learned  the  use  of  his  tongue,  being  but  a  few 
months  old,  this  precocious  child  naturally  caused  great 
astonishment  when,  by  a  miracle,  he  sat  up  in  his  cradle 
and  in  language  that  an  adult  would  use  inquired  the 
cause  of  anxiety.    The  old  man  answered : 

"It  is  written  in  the  stars,  oh,  my  son,  that  the  emperor 
will  never  have  an  heir  unless  some  other  man  will 
sacrifice  for  him  the  life  of  his  own  heir,  and  surely  in 
this  wicked  and  selfish  world  no  one  is  capable  of  such 
generosity  and  patriotism," 

"If  you  will  permit  me,  oh,  my  father,"  answered  the 
baby,  "I  will  die  in  order  that  his  majesty  may  be  con- 
soled," 

The  hermit  explained  that  for  such  an  act  he  could  ac- 
quire unlimited   merit  among  the  gods,  whereupon   the 


244  MODERN  INDIA 

obliging  infant  straightened  its  tiny  limbs  and  expired. 
Some  months  after  the  sultana  gave  birth  to  a  boy,  who 
afterward  became  the  Emperor  Jehanghir, 

Akbar,  of  course,  was  gratified  and  to  show  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  services  of  the  hermit  decided  to  make 
the  rocky  ridge  his  summer  capital.  He  summoned  to 
his  aid  all  the  architects  and  artists  and  contractors  in 
India,  and  a  hundred  thousand  mechanics,  stone  cutters, 
masons  and  decorators  were  kept  busy  for  two  scores 
of  years  erecting  the  palaces,  tombs  and  temples  that  now 
testify  with  mute  eloquence  to  the  genius  of  the  archi- 
tects and  builders  of  those  days.  It  is  shown 
by  the  records  that  this  enterprise  cost  the  taxpayers  of 
India  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  did  not 
include  the  wages  of  the  workmen,  because  most  of 
them  were  paid  nothing.  In  those  days  almost  every- 
thing in  the  way  of  government  public  works  was  car- 
ried on  by  forced  labor.  The  king  paid  no  wages.  The 
material  was  expensive.  Very  little  wood  was  used. 
The  buildings  are  almost  entirely  of  pure  white  marble 
and  red  sandstone.  They  had  neither  doors  nor  win- 
dows, but  only  open  arches  which  were  hung  with  cur- 
tains to  secure  privacy,  and  light  was  admitted  to  the  in- 
terior through  screens  of  marble,  perforated  in  beauti- 
ful designs.  The  entrance  to  the  citadel  is  gained  through 
a  gigantic  gateway,  one  of  the  noblest  portals  ever 
erected.  It  was  intended  as  a  triumphal  arch  to  cele- 
brate the  victory  of  Akbar  over  the  Afghans,  and  to 
commemorate  the  conquest  of  Khandesh,  and  this  is  re- 
corded in  exquisite  Persian  characters  upon  its  frontal 
and  sides.  Compared  with  it  the  arches  of  Titus  and 
Constantine  in  Rome  and  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  in  Paris 
are  clumsy  piles  of  masonry.     There  is  nothing  to  be 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  245 

compared  with  it  anywhere  in  Europe,  and  the  only 
structure  in  India  that  resembles  it  in  any  way  may  be 
found  among  the  ruins  in  the  neighborhood  of  Delhi. 

Through  this  majestic  portal  you  enter  a  quadrangle 
about  six  hundred  feet  square,  inclosed  by  a  lofty  cloister 
which  Bishop  Heber  pronounced  the  finest  that  was  ever 
erected.  He  declared  that  there  was  no  other  quadrangle 
to  be  compared  to  it  in  size  or  proportions  or  beauty.  In 
the  center  of  this  wonderful  inclosure  is  a  building  that 
resembles  a  miniature  temple.  It  is  not  large,  and  its 
low  roof  and  far  projecting  eaves  give  it  the  appearance 
of  a  tropical  bungalow.  It  is  built  of  the  purest  marble. 
No  other  material  was  used  in  its  contraction.  There  is 
not  a  nail  or  a  screw  or  an  ounce  of  metal  of  any  kind 
in  its  walls,  and  very  little  cement  or  mortar  was  used. 
Each  piece  of  stone  fits  the  others  so  perfectly  that  there 
was  no  need  of  bolts  or  anything  to  hold  it  in  place.  It 
stands  upon  a  pedestal  four  feet  high  and  is  crowned 
with  a  low  white  dome  of  polished  metal.  The  walls  of 
this  wonderful  building  are  pillars  of  marble  inclosing 
panels  of  the  same  material  sawed  in  very  thin  slabs  and 
perforated  in  exquisite  geometrical  patterns.  No  two 
panels  are  alike ;  there  is  no  duplication  of  design  on  the 
pillars ;  every  column  is  different ;  every  capital  and  every 
base  is  unique.  We  are  told  that  it  was  customary  in 
the  days  of  the  Moguls  to  assign  a  section  of  a  building 
to  an  artist  and  allow  him  to  exercise  his  skill  and  genius 
without  restriction,  of  course  within  certain  limits.  Not- 
withstanding this  diversity  of  design,  the  tomb  of  Shekh 
Selim,  of  which  I  have  attempted  to  give  you  an  idea, 
is  an  ideal  of  perfect  harmony,  and  every  stroke  of  the 
chisel  was  as  precise  as  if  the  artist  had  been  engraving 
a   cameo.     It  was   erected   by   Akbar   and   his    Queen, 


246  MODERN  INDIA 

Luquina,  as  a  token  of  gratitude  to  the  old  monk  who 
brouglit  them  an  heir  to  their  throne,  but,  unfortunately 
this  heir  was  an  ungrateful  chap  and  treated  his  father 
and  motlier  very  badly. 

Another  tomb  of  equal  beauty  but  smaller  dimensions, 
is  also  a  tribute  of  respect  and  affection.  Under  this 
marble  roof  lies  all  that  remains  of  that  extraordinary 
baby  who  gave  his  life  to  gratify  the  king. 

Surrounding  the  quadrangle  are  the  apartments  of  the 
emperor,  the  residences  of  his  wives  and  the  offices  in 
which  he  conducted  official  business.  They  are  all  built  of 
marble  of  design  and  beauty  similar  to  those  within  the 
walls  of  the  fort  at  Agra.  One  of  them,  known  as  the 
Hall  of  Records,  is  now  used  for  the  accommodation 
of  visitors  because  there  is  no  hotel  and  very  little  de- 
mand for  one.  The  only  people  who  ever  go  to  Fat- 
tehpur  Sikri  are  tourists,  and  they  take  their  own  bedding 
and  spread  it  on  the  marble  floor.  It  is  a  long  journey, 
twenty-six  miles  by  carriage,  and  it  is  not  possible  to 
make  it  and  return  on  the  same  day. 

The  Imperial  Hall  of  Audience,  where  Akbar  was  ac- 
customed to  sit  in  his  robes  of  state  each  day  to  receive 
the  petitions  and  administer  justice  to  his  subjects,  is  a 
splendid  pavilion  of  red  sandstone  with  fifty-six  columns 
covered  with  elaborate  carving  in  the  Hindu  style.  Here 
he  received  ambassadors  from  all  parts  of  the  earth  be- 
cause the  glory  of  his  court  and  the  liberality  of  his  pol- 
icy gave  him  universal  reputation.  Here  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries gave  him  the  seeds  of  the  tobacco  plant  which 
they  brought  from  America,  and  within  a  few  miles  from 
this  place  was  grown  the  first  tobacco  ever  produced  in 
India.  The  hookah,  the  big  tobacco  pipe,  with  a  long 
tube  and  a  bowl  of  perfumed  water  for  the  smoke  to 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  247 

pass  through,  is  said  to  have  been  invented  at  Fattehpnr 
Sikri  by  one  of  Akbar's  engineers. 

Connected  by  a  marble  corridor  with  the  palace,  and 
also  with  the  Hall  of  Public  Audience,  is  a  smaller  pavil- 
ion, where,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  times,  the 
emperor  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  and  conferring 
with  his  ministers  and  other  officials  of  his  government, 
with  ambassadors  and  with  strangers  who  sought  his 
presence  from  curiosity  or  business  reasons.  This  diwan- 
i-khas,  or  privy  chamber,  is  pointed  out  as  the  place 
where  the  emperor  held  his  celebrated  religious  contro- 
versies. We  are  told  that  for  several  years  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries were  invited  there  and  encouraged  to  explain 
the  dogmas  and  doctrines  of  their  faith  to  the  no- 
bles and  the  learned  pundits  of  the  Indian  Empire,  often 
in  the  presence  of  the  Mogul,  who  took  part  in  the  discus- 
sions. 

When  his  majesty  was  tired  of  business  and  wanted 
relaxation  he  ordered  his  servants  to  remove  the  silken 
rug  and  cushions  upon  which  he  sat  to  a  little  marble 
portico  on  the  other  side  of  the  palace,  where  the  pave- 
ment of  the  court  was  laid  in  alternate  squares  of  black 
and  white  marble.  This  was  known  as  the  imperial  pu- 
chisi  board,  and  we  are  told  that  his  majesty  played  a 
game  resembling  chess  with  beautiful  slave  girls  dressed 
in  costume  to  represent  the  men  upon  the  board.  Here 
he  sat  for  hours  with  his  antagonists,  and  was  so  proud 
of  his  skill  that  expert  puchisi  players  from  all  parts  of 
the  empire  were  summoned  to  play  with  him. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  inclosure  is  a  large  building 
known  as  the  mint,  where  the  first  rupees  were  coined. 
They  were  cubes  of  gold,  covered  with  artistic  designs 
and   with   Persian   inscriptions   reading   "God   is   great. 


248  MODERN  INDIA 

Mighty  is  His  Glory,"  The  largest  coin  was  called  a 
"lienseh"  and  was  worth  about  $1,000  in  our  money. 
And  there  were  several  other  denominations,  in  the  forms 
of  cubes,  and  they  bore  similar  pious  inscriptions. 

The  residences  of  the  women  of  the  court  and  the  min- 
isters and  other  high  officials  were  of  corresponding 
splendor  and  beauty.  There  is  nothing  on  our  side  of  the 
world  or  in  Europe  to  compare  with  them  in  beauty 
of  design,  costliness  of  material  and  lavishness  of  decora- 
tion. The  grandest  palaces  of  the  European  capitals 
are  coarse  and  clumsy  beside  them,  and  the  new  library 
at  Washington,  which  we  consider  a  model  of  architec- 
tural perfection,  can  be  compared  to  these  gems  of  Hindu 
architects  as  cotton  duck  to  Brussels  lace. 

The  palaces,  temples  and  tombs  in  northern  India  are 
unequaled  examples  of  the  architectural  and  decorative 
arts.  Nothing  more  beautiful  or  more  costly  has  ever 
been  built  by  human  hands  than  the  residences  and  the 
sepulchers  of  the  Moguls,  while  their  audience  chambers, 
their  baths  and  pavilions  are  not  surpassed,  and  are  not 
even  equaled  in  any  of  the  imperial  capitals  of  Europe. 
The  oriental  artists  and  architects  of  the  Mohammedan 
dynasties  lavished  money  upon  their  homes  and  tombs 
in  the  most  generous  manner,  and  the  refinement  of  their 
taste  was  equal  to  their  extravagance.  And  where  do 
you  suppose  they  obtained  all  the  money  for  these  build- 
ings, which  cost  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars?  The 
architectural  remains  of  Akbar  and  Shah  Jehan,  the  two 
most  splendid  of  the  Moguls,  represent  an  expenditure 
of  several  hundred  millions,  even  though  the  labor  of 
construction  was  unpaid,  and  where  did  they  get  the 
funds  to  pay  for  them  ?  Lieutenant  Governor  La  Touche, 
who  has  been  collecting  the  records  of  the  Mogul  dynasty 


THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL  OF  BUILDINGS  249 

and  having  them  carefully  examined,  discovers  that  their 
revenues  average  about  $100,000,000  a  year  for  a  hun- 
dred years  or  more.  In  1664  the  land  taxes  amounted 
to  £26, 743 ,000,  in  1665  they  amounted  to  £24,056,000, 
while  in  1697,  during  the  reign  of  the  Mogul 
Aurangzeb,  they  reached  their  highest  figure,  which  was 
£38,719,000..  With  these  funds  they  were  required  to 
keep  up  their  palaces,  pay  their  officials,  maintain  their 
armies  and  provide  for  the  luxurious  tastes  of  their 
courtiers. 


XVI 

THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI 

Wherever  the  viceroy  may  hold  court,  wherever  the 
government  may  sit,  Delhi  always  has  been  and  always 
will  be  the  capital  of  India,  for  have  not  the  prophets 
foretold  that  the  gilded  marble  palaces  of  the  Moguls  will 
stand  forever?  Although  Benares  and  Lucknow  have 
a  larger  population,  Delhi  is  regarded  as  the  metropolis 
of  Northern  India,  and  in  commerce  and  manufactures 
stands  fourth  in  the  list  of  cities,  Bombay,  Calcutta  and 
Madras  only  surpassing  it  in  wealth,  industry  and  trade. 
If  you  will  look  at  the  map  for  a  moment  you  will  notice 
its  unusually  favorable  location,  both  from  a  commercial 
and  military  standpoint.  It  occupies  a  central  place  in 
northern  India,  has  railway  connections  with  the  fron- 
tier and  is  equidistant  from  Bombay  and  Calcutta,  the 
principal  ports  of  the  empire.  It  receives  raw  materials 
from  the  northern  provinces  and  from  mysterious  regions 
beyond  the  boundary.  Its  cunning  artisans  convert  them 
into  finished  products  and  ship  them  to  all  the  markets  of 
the  world.  Being  of  great  strategic  importance,  a  large 
military  garrison  is  maintained  there,  and  the  walls  of  an 
ancient  fort  shelter  arsenals  filled  with  guns  and  maga- 
zines filled  with  ammunition,  which  may  be  promptly  dis- 
tributed by  railway  throughout  the  empire  on  demand. 
It  is  the  capital  of  one  of  the  richest  and  most  productive 
provinces,  the  headquarters  of  various   departments   of 

250 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      251 

the  government,  the  residence  of  a  large  foreign  colony, 
civil,  military  and  commercial ;  it  has  the  most  learned 
native  pundits  in  India;  it  has  extensive  missionary  sta- 
tions and  educational  institutions,  and  is  the  center  and  fo- 
cus of  learning  and  all  forms  of  activity.  It  is  a  pity  and 
a  disgrace  that  Delhi  has  no  good  hotels.  There  are 
two  or  three  indifferent  ones,  badly  built  and  badly  kept. 
They  are  about  as  good  as  the  average  in  India,  but  ought 
to  be  a  great  deal  better,  for  if  travelers  could  find  com- 
fortable places  to  stop  Delhi  might  be  made  a  popular  re- 
sort. 

Travelers  complain  also  of  the  pestiferous  peddlers  who 
pursue  them  beyond  the  limit  of  patience.  We  were 
advised  by  people  who  know  India  not  to  buy  anything 
until  we  reached  Delhi,  because  that  city  has  the  best 
shops  and  the  best  bazaars  and  produces  the  most  attrac- 
tive fabrics,  jewelry  and  other  articles  which  tourists  like 
to  take  home  to  their  friends.  And  we  found  within  a 
few  moments  after  our  appearance  there  that  we  would 
have  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  as  many  things  as  we 
wanted.  We  arrived  late  at  night,  and  when  we  opened 
the  doors  of  our  chambers  the  next  morning  we  found 
a  crowd  of  clamoring  merchants  in  the  corridor  w^ting 
to  seize  us  as  we  came  out.  And  wherever  we  went — in 
temples,  palaces,  parks  and  in  the  streets — they  followed 
us  with  their  wares  tied  up  in  bundles  and  slung  over 
their  backs.  When  we  drove  out  to  "The  Ridge,"  where 
the  great  battles  took  place  during  the  mutiny  of  1857, 
to  see  a  monument  erected  in  memory  of  the  victims  of 
Indian  treachery,  two  enterprising  merchants  followed  us 
in  a  carriage  and  interrupted  our  meditations  by  offer- 
ing silks,  embroideries  and  brass  work  at  prices  which 
they  said  were  20  per  cent  lower  than  we  would  have  to 


252  MODERN  INDIA 

pay  in  the  city.  When  we  went  into  the  dining-room  of 
the  hotel  we  always  had  to  pass  through  a  throng  of 
these  cormorants,  who  thrust  jewelry,  ivory  carvings, 
photographs,  embroideries,  cashmere  shawls,  silks  and 
other  goods  in  our  faces  and  begged  us  to  buy  them.  As 
we  rode  through  the  streets  they  actually  ran  at  the  sides 
of  the  carriage,  keeping  pace  with  the  horses  until  we 
drove  them  off  by  brandishing  parasols,  umbrellas  and 
similar  weapons  of  defense.  We  could  not  go  to  a 
mosque  or  the  museum  without  finding  them  lying  in 
wait  for  us,  until  wc  became  so  exasperated  that  homicide 
would  have  been  justifiable.  That  is  the  experience  of 
every  traveler,  especially  Americans,  who  are  supposed  to 
be  millionaires,  and  many  of  our  fellow  countrymen  spend 
their  money  so  freely  as  to  excite  the  avarice  of  the  Delhi 
tradesmen.  And  indeed  it  is  true  that  their  goods  are 
the  most  attractive,  although  their  prices  are  higher  than 
you  have  to  pay  in  the  smaller  towns  of  India,  where 
there  is  less  demand. 

The  principal  business  section,  called  Chandni  Chauk, 
which  means  Silver  street,  has  been  frequently  described 
as  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and  fascinating  streets 
in  the  world.  It  is  about  a  mile  long  and  seventy-five 
feet  broad.  In  the  center  are  two  rows  of  trees,  between 
which  for  several  hundred  years  was  an  aqueduct,  but 
it  is  now  filled  and  its  banks  are  used  as  a  pathway,  the 
principal  promenade  of  the  town.  But  a  stranger  cannot 
walk  there  in  peace,  for  within  five  minutes  he  is  hemmed 
in  and  his  way  is  blocked  by  merchants,  who  rush  out 
from  the  shops  on  both  sides  with  their  hands  filled 
with  samples  of  goods  and  business  cards  and  in  pigeon 
English  entreat  him  to  stop  and  see  what  they  have  for 
sale.     Sometimes  it  is   amusing   when   rival  merchants 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      253 

grapple  with  each  other  in  their  frantic  efforts  to  secure 
customers,  but  such  unwelcome  attentions  impair  the 
pleasure  of  a  visit  to  Delhi. 

The  shops  on  both  sides  of  the  Chandni  Chauk  are  full 
of  wonderful  loom  and  metal  work,  jewelry,  em- 
broidery, enamel,  rugs,  hangings,  brocades,  shawls,  leath- 
er work,  gems  and  carved  ivory  and  wood.  Delhi  has  al- 
ways been  famous  for  carvings,  and  examples  of  engrav- 
ing on  jade  of  priceless  value  are  often  shown.  Some- 
times a  piece  of  jade  can  be  found  in  a  curio  shop  covered 
with  relief  work  which  represents  the  labor  of  an  accom- 
plished artist  for  years.  In  the  days  of  the  Mogtils 
these  useless  ornaments  were  very  highly  regarded. 
Kings  and  rich  nobles  used  to  have  engravers  attached 
to  their  households.  Artists  and  their  families  were 
always  sure  of  a  comfortable  home  and  good  living,  hence 
time  was  no  object.  It  was  not  taken  into  consideration. 
They  were  indifferent  whether  they  spent  five  months  or 
five  years  in  fashioning  a  block  of  ivory  or  engraving  a 
gem  for  their  princely  patrons.  The  greatest  works  of  the 
most  accomplished  artists  of  the  Mogul  period  are  now 
nearly  all  in  the  possession  of  native  princes  and  rich 
Hindus,  and  if  one  comes  into  the  market  it  is  snapped  up 
instantly  by  collectors  in  Europe  and  the  United  States. 
Some  of  the  carved  ivory  is  marvelous.  An  artist  would 
spend  his  entire  life  covering  a  tusk  of  an  elephant  with 
carvings  of  marvelous  delicacy  and  skill ;  and  even  to-day 
the  ivory  carvers  of  Delhi  produce  wonderful  results  and 
sell  them  at  prices  that  are  absurdly  small,  considering 
the  labor  they  represent. 

Akbar  the  Great,  who  sat  upon  the  Mogul  throne  the 
latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  a  sensible  man, 
and  endeavored  to  divert  the  skill  and  taste  of  the  artisans 


254  MODERN  INDIA 

of  his  empire  into  more  practical  channels.  Instead  of 
maintaining  artists  to  carve  ivory  and  jade  he  established 
schools  and  workshops  for  the  instruction  of  spinners, 
weavers  and  embroiderers,  and  ofifcred  high  prices  for 
fine  samples  of  shawls  and  other  woolen  fabrics,  weapons, 
pottery  and  similar  useful  articles.  He  purchased  the 
rich  products  of  the  looms  for  the  imperial  wardrobe 
and  induced  the  native  princes  to  imitate  his  example. 
He  organized  guilds  among  his  workmen,  and  secured 
the  adoption  of  regulations  which  served  to  maintain  a 
high  standard,  and  permitted  none  but  perfect  products 
to  be  placed  upon  the  market. 

The  descendants  of  the  master  workmen  educated 
under  this  policy  are  still  living  and  following  the  trades 
of  their  ancestors  in  Delhi,  and  there  may  be  found  the 
finest  gold  and  silver  cloth  and  the  most  elaborate  em- 
broidery produced  in  the  world.  The  coronation  robe  of 
Queen  Alexandra  of  England,  which  is  said  to  have  been 
of  surpassing  richness  and  beauty,  was  woven  and  em- 
broidered in  a  factory  upon  the  Chandni  Chauk,  and  the 
merchant  who  made  it  is  constantly  receiving  orders 
from  the  different  courts  of  Europe  and  from  the  lead- 
ing dressmakers  of  London,  Paris  and  Vienna.  He  told 
us  that  Mrs.  Leland  Stanford  had  commissioned  him  to 
furnish  the  museum  of  her  university  in  California  the 
finest  possible  samples  of  different  styles  of  Indian  em- 
broidery, and  his  workmen  were  then  engaged  in  pro- 
ducing them.  Her  contract,  he  said,  amounted  to  more 
than  $60,000.  Lady  Curzon  is  his  best  customer,  for 
she  not  only  orders  all  of  the  material  for  her  state  gowns 
from  him,  but  has  brought  him  enough  orders  from  the 
ladies  of  the  British  court  to  keep  his  shop  busy  for  five 
years.     He  told  us  that  Lady  Curzon  designed  the  corona- 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      255 

tion  robe  of  Queen  Alexandra ;  he  declared  that  she  had 
the  rarest  taste  of  any  woman  he  knew,  and  that  she  was 
the  best  dressed  woman  in  the  world — an  opinion  shared 
by  other  good  judges. 

He  spread  upon  the  floor  wonderful  samples  of  the 
skill  and  taste  of  his  artists,  brocades  embroidered  with 
jewels  for  the  ceremonial  robes  of  native  princes ;  silks 
and  satins  whose  surface  was  concealed  by  patterns 
wrought  in  gold  and  silver  thread.  And  everything  is 
done  by  men.  Women  do  not  embroider  in  India.  He 
keeps  eighty  men  embroiderers  constantly  employed,  and 
pays  them  an  average  of  18  cents  a  day.  The  most  famous 
of  his  artists,  those  who  design  as  well  as  execute  the 
delicate  and  costly  garnishings,  the  men  who  made  the 
coronation  robe  of  the  British  queen,  receive  the  munifi- 
cent compensation  of  42  cents  a  day.  That  is  the  maxi- 
mum paid  for  such  work.  Apprentices  who  do  the  filUng 
in  and  coarser  work  and  have  not  yet  acquired  suffi- 
cent  skill  and  experience  to  undertake  more  important 
tasks  are  paid  8  cents  a  day  and  work  twelve  hours  for 
that. 

Delhi  is  the  principal  distributing  point  for  the  famous 
Cashmere  shawls  which  are  woven  of  the  hair  of  camels, 
goats  and  sheep  in  the  province  of  Cashmere,  which  lies 
to  the  northward  about  300  miles.  They  are  brought 
packed  in  panniers  on  the  backs  of  camels.  I  was  told 
at  Delhi  that  the  foreign  demand  for  Cashmere  shawls 
has  almost  entirely  ceased,  that  a  very  few  are  shipped 
from  India  nowadays  because  in  Europe  and  America 
they  are  no  longer  fashionable.  Hence  prices  have  gone 
down,  the  weavers  are  dependent  almost  entirely  upon  the 
local  market  of  India,  and  one  can  obtain  good  shawls 
for  very  low  prices — about  half  what  they  formerly  cost. 


256  MODERN  INDIA 

In  northern  India  every  Hindu  must  have  a  shawl ;  it  is 
as  necessary  to  him  as  a  hat  or  a  pair  of  boots  to  a  citizen 
of  Chicago  or  New  York,  and  it  is  customary  to  invest 
a  considerable  part  of  the  family  fortune  in  shawls.  They 
are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  for  they 
never  wear  out ;  the  older  they  are  the  more  valuable  they 
are  considered.  You  often  see  a  barefooted,  bare-legged 
peasant  with  his  head  wrapped  in  a  Cashmere  shawl  that 
would  bring  a  thousand  dollars  in  a  London  auction- 
room.  It  is  considered  absolutely  essential  for  every 
young  man  to  wear  one  of  those  beautiful  fabrics,  and 
if  there  is  none  for  him  in  the  family  he  saves  his  earn- 
ings and  scrimps  and  borrows  and  begs  from  his  rela- 
tions until  he  gets  enough  money  together  to  buy  one. 
Most  of  the  shawls  are  of  the  Persian  pattern  familiar  to 
us.  The  groundwork  is  a  solid  color  (white  and  yellow 
seem  to  be  the  most  popular),  and  there  are  a  good  many 
of  blue,  green,  orange  and  pink.  A  crowd  of  Hindus  in 
this  part  of  the  country  suggest  a  kaleidoscope  as  they 
move  about  with  their  brilliant  colored  shawls  upon  their 
shoulders. 

The  amount  and  fineness  of  embroidery  upon  the  bor- 
der and  in  the  corners  of  shawls  give  them  their  value, 
and  sometimes  there  is  an  elaborate  design  in  the  center. 
The  shawl  itself  is  so  fine  that  it  can  be  drawn  through 
a  finger  ring  or  folded  up  and  stowed  away  in  an  ordi- 
nary pocket,  but  it  has  the  warmth  of  a  Scotch  blanket. 
Shawls  are  woven  and  embroidered  in  the  homes  of  the 
people  of  Cashmere,  and  are  entirely  of  hand  work.  There 
are  no  factories  and  no  steam  looms,  and  every  stitch  of 
the  decoration  is  made  with  an  ordinary  needle  by  the 
fingers  of  a  man.  Women  do  not  seem  to  have  acquired 
the  accomplishment. 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      257 

A  great  deal  of  fun  used  to  be  made  at  the  expense 
of  Queen  Victoria,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  sending  a 
Cashmere  shawl  whenever  she  was  expected  to  make  a 
wedding  present,  and  no  doubt  it  was  rather  unusual  for 
her  to  persist  in  forcing  unfashionable  garments  upon  her 
friends.  But  there  is  another  way  of  looking  at  it.  The 
good  queen  was  deeply  interested  in  promoting  the  native 
industries  of  India,  and  bought  a  large  number  of  shawls 
every  year  from  the  best  artists  in  Cashmere.  Up  there 
shawl-makers  have  reputations  like  painters  and  orators 
with  us,  and  if  you  would  ask  the  question  in  Cashmere 
any  merchant  would  give  you  the  names  of  the  most 
celebrated  weavers  and  embroiderers.  Queen  Victoria 
was  their  most  regular  and  generous  patron.  She  not 
only  purchased  large  numbers  of  shawls  herself,  but  did 
her  best  to  bring  them  into  fashion,  both  because  she  be- 
lieved it  was  a  sensible  practice,  and  would  advance  the 
prosperity  of  the  heathen  subjects  in  whom  she  took  such 
a  deep  interest. 

The  arts  and  industries  of  India  are  very  old.  Their 
methods  have  been  handed  down  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, because  sons  are  in  the  habit  of  following  the 
trades  of  fathers,  and  they  are  inclined  to  cling  to  the 
same  old  patterns  and  the  same  old  processes,  regardless 
of  labor-saving  devices  and  modern  fashions.  Many 
people  think  this  habit  should  be  encouraged ;  that  what 
may  be  termed  the  classic  designs  of  the  Hindus  cannot 
be  improved  upon,  and  it  is  certainly  true  that  all  purely 
modern  work  is  inferior.  Lord  and  Lady  Curzon  have 
shown  deep  interest  in  this  subject.  Lord  Curzon  has 
used  his  official  authority  and  the  influence  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  revive,  restore  and  promote  old  native  indus- 
tries, and  Lady  Curzon  has  been  an  invaluable  commercial 


258  MODERN  INDIA 

agent  for  the  manufacturers  of  the  higher  class  of  fabrics 
antl  art  objects  in  India.  She  has  made  many  of  them 
fashionable  in  Calcutta  and  other  Indian  cities  and  in 
London,  Paris  and  the  capitals  of  Europe,  and  so  great  is 
her  zeal  that,  with  all  her  cares  and  responsibilities,  and 
the  demands  upon  her  time,  she  always  has  the  leisure 
to  place  orders  for  her  friends  and  even  for  strangers 
who  address  her,  and  to  assist  the  silk  weavers,  embroid- 
erers and  other  artists  to  adapt  their  designs  and  patterns 
and  fabrics  to  the  requirements  of  modern  fashions.  She 
wears  nothing  but  Indian  stuffs  herself,  and  there  is  no 
better  dressed  woman  in  the  world.  She  keeps  several 
of  the  best  artists  in  India  busy  with  orders  from  her 
friends,  and  is  beginning  to  see  the  results  of  her  efforts 
in  the  revival  of  arts  that  w^ere  almost  forgotten. 

The  population  of  Delhi  is  about  208,000.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  people,  as  in  the  other  cities  of  northwestern 
India,  are  Mohammedans,  descendants  of  the  invaders  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  the  hostility  between  them  and  the 
Brahmins  is  quite  sharp.  The  city  is  surrounded  by  a 
lofty  wall  six  miles  in  circumference,  which  was  built  by 
Shah  Jehan,  the  greatest  of  the  Moguls,  some  time  about 
1630,  and  the  modern  town  begins  its  history  at  that  date. 
It  has  been  the  scene  of  many  exciting  events  since  then. 
Several  times  it  has  been  sacked  and  its  inhabitants  mas- 
sacred. As  late  as  1739  the  entire  population  w^as  put  to 
the  sword  and  everything  of  value  within  the  walls  was 
carried  off  by  the  Persians.  In  the  center  of  the  city 
still  remains  a  portion  of  what  was  probably  the  most 
splendid  palace  that  was  ever  erected.  It  is  surrounded 
by  a  second  wall  inclosing  an  area  3,000  feet  long  by 
1,500  feet  wide,  which  was  at  one  time  filled  with  build- 
ings of  unique  beauty  and  interest.    They  illustrated  the 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      259 

imperial  grandeur  of  the  Moguls,  whose  style  of  living 
was  probably  more  splendid  than  that  of  any  monarchs 
of  any  nation  before  or  since  their  time.  Their  extrava- 
gance was  unbounded.  Their  love  of  display  has  never 
been  surpassed,  and  while  it  is  a  question  where  they 
obtained  the  enormous  sums  of  money  they  squandered 
in  ceremonies  and  personal  adornment,  there  is  none  as 
to  the  accuracy  of  the  descriptions  given  to  them.  The 
fact  that  Nadir  Shah,  the  Persian  invader,  was  able  to 
carry  away  $300,000,000  in  booty  of  jewels  and  gold, 
silver  and  other  portable  articles  of  value  when  he  sacked 
Delhi  in  1739,  is  of  itself  evidence  that  the  stories  of  the 
wealth  and  the  splendor  of  the  Moguls  are  not  fables.  It 
is  written  in  the  history  of  Persia  that  the  people  of  that 
empire  were  exempt  from  taxation  for  three  years  be- 
cause their  king  brought  from  Delhi  enough  money  to  pay 
all  the  expenses  of  his  government  and  his  army  during 
that  time.  We  are  told  that  he  stripped  plates  of  gold 
from  the  walls  of  the  palace  of  Delhi  and  removed  the 
ceilings  from  the  apartments  because  they  were  made  of 
silver,  and  the  peacock  throne  of  itself  was  of  sufficient 
value  to  pay  the  debts  of  a  nation. 

A  considerable  part  of  the  palaces  of  the  Moguls  has 
been  destroyed  by  vandals  or  removed  by  the  British  au- 
thorities in  order  to  make  room  for  ugly  brick  buildings 
which  are  used  as  barracks  and  for  the  storage  of  arms, 
ammunition  and  other  military  supplies.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  they  could  have  secured  uglier  designs  and  car- 
ried them  out  with  ruder  workmanship.  Writers  upon 
Indian  history  and  architecture  invariably  devote  a  chap- 
ter to  this,  national  disgrace  for  which  the  viceroys  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  responsible, 
and  they  denounce  it  as  even  worse  than  the  devastation 


26o  MODERN  INDIA 

committed  by  barbarian  invaders.  "Nadir  Shah,  Ahmed 
Khan  and  the  Maratha  chiefs  were  content  to  strip  the 
buildings  of  their  precious  metals  and  the  jeweled 
thrones,"  exclaims  one  eminent  writer.  "To  the  govern- 
ment of  the  present  Empress  of  India  was  left  the  last 
dregs  of  vandalism,  which  after  the  mutiny  pulled  down 
these  perfect  monuments  of  Mogul  art  to  make  room  for 
the  ugliest  brick  buildings  from  Simla  to  Ceylon.  The 
whole  of  the  harem  courts  of  the  palace  were  swept  off 
the  face  of  the  earth  to  make  way  for  a  hideous  British 
barrack,  without  those  who  carried  out  this  fearful  piece 
of  vandalism  thinking  it  even  worth  while  to  make  a  plan 
of  what  they  were  destroying,  or  making  any  records  of 
the  most  splendid  palace  in  the  world.  Of  the  public 
parts  of  the  palace,  all  that  remain  are  the  entrance  hall, 
the  Nobut  Khana,  the  Dewani  Aum,  the  Dewani  Khas 
and  the  Rung  Mahal,  now  used  as  a  mess  room,  and  one 
or  two  small  pavilions.  They  are  the  gems  of  the  palace, 
it  is  true,  but  without  the  courts  and  corridors  connect- 
ing them  they  lose  all  their  meaning  and  more  than  half 
their  beauty.  Being  now  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  Brit- 
ish barrack  yard,  they  look  like  precious  stones  torn  from 
their  settings  in  some  exquisite  piece  of  oriental  jeweler's 
work  and  set  at  random  in  a  bed  of  the  commonest 
plaster." 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  no  one  appreciates  this  situa- 
tion more  keenly  than  Lord  Curzon,  and  while  he  is  too 
discreet  a  man  to  criticise  the  acts  of  his  predecessors  in 
office,  he  has  plans  to  restore  the  interior  of  the  fort  to 
something  like  its  original  condition  and  has  already  taken 
steps  to  tear  down  the  ugly  brick  buildings  that  deface 
the  landscape.  But  something  more  is  necessary.  The 
vandalism  still  continues  in  a  small  way.     While  we  were 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      261 

being  escorted  through  the  beautiful  buildings  by  a  blithe 
and  gay  young  Irish  soldier,  I  called  his  attention  to  sev- 
eral spots  in  the  wall  where  bits  of  precious  stone — 
carnelian,  turquoise  and  agate — had  been  picked  out  and 
carried  away  as  relics.  The  wounds  in  the  wall  were 
recent.  It  was  perfectly  apparent  that  the  damage  had 
been  done  that  very  day,  but  he  declared  that  there  was 
no  way  to  prevent  it ;  that  he  was  the  only  custodian  of 
the  place ;  that  there  were  no  guards ;  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  be  everywhere  at  once,  and  that  it  was 
easy  enough  for  tourists  and  other  visitors  to  deface  the 
mosaics  with  their  pocket  knives  in  one  of  the  palaces 
while  he  was  showing  people  through  the  others. 

The  mosaics  which  adorn  the  interior  marble  walls  of 
the  palaces  are  considered  incomparable.  They  are 
claimed  to  be  the  most  elaborate,  the  most  costly  and  the 
most  perfect  specimens  of  the  art  in  existence.  The  de- 
signs represents  flowers,  foliage,  fruits,  birds,  beasts, 
fishes  and  reptiles,  carried  out  with  precious  stones  in 
the  pure  white  marble  with  the  skill  and  delicacy  of  a 
Neapolitan  cameo  cutter,  and  it  is  said  that  they  were 
designed  and  done  by  Austin  de  Bordeaux,  the  French- 
man who  decorated  the  Taj  Mahal,  and  it  was  a  bad  man 
who  did  this  beautiful  work.  History  says  that  "after 
defrauding  several  of  the  princes  of  Europe  by  means  of 
false  gems,  which  he  fabricated  with  great  skill,  he  sought 
refuge  at  the  court  of  the  Moguls,  where  he  was  received 
with  high  favor  and  made  his  fortune." 

The  richest  and  the  loveliest  of  the  rooms  in  the  palace 
is  the  Diwan-i-Khas,  or  Hall  of  Private  Audience,  which 
is  built  entirely  of  marble  and  originally  had  a  silver 
ceiling.  The  walls  were  once  covered  with  gold,  and  in 
the  center  stood  the  famous  peacock  throne.     Over  the 


262  MODERN  INDIA 

north  and  south  entrances  are  written  in  flowing  Persian 
characters  the  following  lines : 

If  there  be  a  Paradise  on  Earth 
It  is  This  !    It  is  This  !    It  is  This ! 

The  building  was  a  masterpiece  of  refined  fancy  and 
extravagance,  and  upon  its  decorations  Austin  de  Bor- 
deaux, whose  work  on  the  Taj  Mahal  pronounces  him 
to  be  one  of  the  greatest  artists  that  ever  lived,  con- 
centrated the  entire  strength  of  his  genius  and  lavished 
the  wealth  of  an  empire.  Mr.  Tavernier,  a  French  jew- 
eler, who  visited  Delhi  a  few  years  after  the  palace  was 
finished,  estimated  the  value  of  the  decorations  of  this 
one  room  at  27,000,000  francs. 

One  of  the  several  thrones  used  by  the  Moguls  on  occa- 
sions of  ceremony  was  a  stool  eighteen  inches  high  and 
four  feet  in  diameter  chiseled  out  of  a  solid  block  of 
natural  crystal.  M.  Tavernier  asserts  that  it  was  the 
largest  piece  of  crystal  ever  discovered,  and  that  it  was 
without  a  flaw.  It  was  shattered  by  the  barbarians  dur- 
ing the  invasion  of  the  Marathas  in  1789.  But  the  pea- 
cock throne,  which  stood  in  the  room  I  have  just  de- 
scribed, was  even  more  wonderful,  and  stands  as  the  most 
extraordinary  example  of  extravagance  on  record. 

A  description  written  at  the  time  says :  "It  was  so 
called  from  its  having  the  figures  of  two  peacocks  stand- 
ing behind  it,  their  tails  being  expanded,  and  the  whole 
so  inlaid  with  diamonds,  sapphires,  rubies,  emeralds, 
pearls  and  other  precious  stones  of  appropriate  colors 
as  to  represent  life.  The  throne  itself  was  six  feet  long 
by  five  feet  broad.  It  stood  upon  six  massive  feet,  which, 
like  the  body,  were  of  solid  gold,  inlaid  with  rubies, 
emeralds  and  diamonds.     It  was  surrounded  by  a  canopy 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      263 

of  gold,  supported  by  twelve  pillars,  all  richly  emblazoned 
with  costly  gems,  and  a  fringe  of  pearls  ornamented  the 
borders  of  the  canopy.  Between  the  two  peacocks  stood  a 
figure  of  a  parrot  of  the  ordinary  size  carved  out  of  a 
single  emerald.  On  either  side  of  the  throne  stood  an 
umbrella,  one  of  the  emblems  of  royalty.  They  were 
formed  of  crimson  velvet,  richly  embroidered  and  fringed 
with  pearls.  The  handles  were  eight  feet  high,  of  solid 
gold  thickly  studded  with  diamonds." 

This  throne,  according  to  a  medical  gentleman  named 
Bernier,  the  writer  whose  description  I  have  quoted,  was 
planned  and  executed  under  the  direction  of  Austin  de 
Bordeaux.  It  was  carried  away  by  Nadir  Shah  to 
Teheran  in  1739,  and  what  is  left  of  it  is  still  used  by 
the  Shah  of  Persia  on  ceremonial  occasions.  The  canopy, 
the  umbrellas,  the  emerald  parrot  and  the  peacocks  have 
long  ago  disappeared. 

The  same  splendor,  in  more  or  less  degree,  was  main- 
tained throughout  the  entire  palace  during  the  reign  of 
the  Moguls.  The  apartments  of  the  emperor  and  those 
of  his  wives,  the  harem,  the  baths,  the  public  offices,  the 
quarters  for  his  ministers,  secretaries  and  attendants 
were  all  built  of  similar  materials  and  decorated  in  the 
same  style  of  magnificence.  Some  of  the  buildings  are 
allowed  to  remain  empty  for  the  pleasures  of  tourists ; 
others  are  occupied  for  military  purposes,  and  the  Rung 
Mahal,  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  formerly  the  residence 
of  the  Mogul's  favorite  wife,  is  now  used  for  a  messroom 
by  the  ofiicers  of  the  garrison.  A  writer  of  the  seventh 
century  who  visited  the  place  says :  "It  was  more  beau- 
tiful than  anything  in  the  East  that  we  know  of." 

At  one  end  of  the  group  of  the  buildings  is  the  Moti 
Majid,  or  Pearl  Mosque,  which  answered  to  the  private 


264  MODERN  INDIA 

chapel  of  the  Moguls,  and  has  been  declared  to  be  "the 
daintiest  building  in  all  India."  In  grace,  simplicity  and 
perfect  proportions  it  cannot  be  surpassed.  It  is  built  of 
the  purest  marble,  richly  traced  with  carving. 

It  is  within  the  walls  of  this  fort  and  among  these 
exquisite  palaces  that  the  Imperial  durbar  was  held  on 
the  ist  of  January,  1903,  to  proclaim  formally  the  corona- 
tion of  King  Edward  VII.,  Emperor  of  India,  and  Lord 
Curzon,  with  remarkable  success,  carried  out  his  plan  to 
make  the  occasion  one  of  extraordinary  splendor.  It 
brought  together  for  the  first  time  all  of  the  native  princes 
of  India,  who,  in  the  presence  of  each  other,  renewed 
their  pledges  of  loyalty  and  offered  their  homage  to  the 
throne.  No  spectacle  of  greater  pomp  and  splendor  has 
ever  been  witnessed  in  Europe  or  Asia  or  any  other  part 
of  the  world  since  the  days  of  the  Moguls.  The  peacock 
throne  could  not  be  recovered  for  the  occasion,  but  Lord 
and  Lady  Curzon  sat  upon  the  platform  where  it  formerly 
stood,  and  there  received  the  ruling  chiefs,  nobles  and 
princes  from  all  the  states  and  provinces  of  India.  Lord 
Curzon  has  been  criticised  severely  in  certain  quarters  for 
the  "barbaric  splendor  and  barbaric  extravagance  of  this 
celebration,"  but  people  familiar  with  the  political  situa- 
tion in  India  and  the  temper  of  the  native  princes  have 
not  doubted  for  a  moment  the  wisdom  which  inspired  it 
and  the  importance  of  its  consequences.  The  oriental 
mind  is  impressed  more  by  splendor  than  by  any  other 
influence,  and  has  profound  respect  for  ceremonials. 
The  Emperor  of  India,  by  the  durbar,  recognized  those 
racial  peculiarities,  and  not  only  gratified  them  but  made 
himself  a  real  personality  to  the  native  chiefs  instead  of 
an  abstract  proposition.  It  has  given  the  British  power 
a  position  that  it  never  held  before;  it  swept  away  jeal- 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      265 

ousies  and  brought  together  ruling  princes  who  had 
never  seen  each  other  until  then.  It  broke  down  what 
Lord  Curzon  calls  "the  water-tight  compartment  system 
of  India." 

"Each  province,"  he  says,  "each  native  state,  is  more 
or  less  shut  off  by  solid  bulkheads  from  its  neighbors. 
The  spread  of  railways  and  the  relaxation  of  social  re- 
strictions are  tending  to  break  them  down,  but  they  are 
still  very  strong.  Princes  who  live  in  the  south  have 
rarely  ever  in  their  lives  seen  or  visited  the  states  of  the 
north.  Perhaps  among  the  latter  are  chiefs  who  have 
rarely  ever  left  their  homes.  It  cannot  but  be  a  good 
thing  that  they  should  meet  and  get  to  know  each  other 
and  exchange  ideas.  To  the  East  there  is  nothing 
strange,  but  something  familiar  and  even  sacred,"  con- 
tinued Lord  Curzon,  "in  the  practice  that  brings  sov- 
ereigns together  with  their  people  in  ceremonies  of 
solemnity.  Every  sovereign  in  India  did  it  in  the  old 
days ;  every  chief  in  India  does  it  now ;  and  the  com- 
munity of  interest  between  the  sovereign  and  his  people, 
to  which  such  a  function  testifies  and  which  it  serves  to 
keep  alive,  is  most  vital  and  most  important." 

And  the  durbar  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  those  who 
planned  it.  The  expense  was  quite  large.  The  total  dis- 
bursements by  the  government  were  about  $880,000,  and 
it  is  probable  that  an  equal  amount  was  expended  by  the 
princes  and  other  people  who  participated.  That  has 
been  the  subject  of  severe  criticism  also,  because  the  peo- 
ple were  only  slowly  recovering  from  the  effect  of  an 
awful  famine.  But  there  is  another  point  of  view. 
Every  farthing  of  those  funds  was  spent  in  India  and 
represented  wages  paid  to  workmen  employed  in  making 
the    preparations    and    carrying   them    into    effect.     No 


266  MODERN  INDIA 

money  went  out  of  the  country.  It  all  came  out  of  the 
pockets  of  the  rich  and  was  paid  into  the  hands  of  the 
poor.  What  the  government  and  the  native  princes  and 
nobles  expended  in  their  splendid  displays  was  paid  to 
working  people  who  needed  it,  and  by  throwing  this 
large  amount  into  circulation  the  entire  country  was 
benefited. 

The  extravagance  of  the  Viceroy  and  Lady  Curzon  in 
their  own  personal  arrangements  has  also  been  criticised, 
and  people  complain  that  they  might  have  done  great 
good  with  the  immense  sums  expended  in  dress  and  enter- 
tainment and  display,  but  it  is  easy  to  construe  these  criti- 
cisms into  compliments,  for  everyone  testifies  that  both  the 
viceroy  and  his  beautiful  American  wife  performed  their 
parts  to  perfection,  and  that  no  one  could  have  appeared 
with  greater  dignity  and  grace.  Every  detail  of  the  affair 
was  appropriate  and  every  item  upon  the  programme  was 
carried  out  precisely  as  intended  and  desired.  Lord  and 
Lady  Curzon  have  the  personal  presence,  the  manners  and 
all  the  other  qualities  required  for  such  occasions. 

Dr.  Francois  Bernier,  the  French  physician  who  vis- 
ited the  Mogul  court  in  1658,  and  gives  us  a  graphic  de- 
scription of  the  durbar  and  Emperor  Aurangzeb,  who 
reigned  at  that  time,  writes:  "The  king  appeared  upon 
his  throne  splendidly  appareled.  His  vest  was  of  white 
satin,  flowered  and  raised  with  a  very  fine  embroidery  of 
gold  and  silk.  His  turban  was  of  cloth  of  gold,  having 
a  fowl  wrought  upon  it  like  a  heron,  whose  foot  was 
covered  with  diamonds  of  an  ordinary  bigness  and  price, 
with  a  great  oriental  topaz  which  may  be  said  to  be 
matchless,  shining  like  a  little  sun.  A  collar  of  long 
pearls  hung  about  his  neck  down  to  his  stomach,  after 
the  manner  that  some  heathens  wear  their  beads.     His 


THE  QUAINT  OLD  CITY  OF  DELHI      267 

throne  was  supported  by  six  pillars  of  massive  gold  set 
with  rubies,  emeralds  and  diamonds.  Beneath  the  throne 
there  appeared  the  great  nobles,  in  splendid  apparel, 
standing  upon  a  raised  ground  covered  with  a  canopy  of 
purple  with  great  golden  fringes,  and  inclosed  by  a  silver 
balustrade.  The  pillars  of  the  hall  were  hung  with 
tapestries  of  purple  having  the  ground  of  gold,  and  for 
the  roof  of  the  hall  there  was  nothing  but  canopies  of 
flowered  satin  fastened  with  red  silken  cords  that  had 
big  tufts  of  silk  mixed  with  the  threads  of  gold  hanging 
on  them.  Below  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  silken 
tapestries,  very  rich  and  of  extraordinary  length  and 
breadth." 


XVII 

THE  TEMPLES  AND  TOMBS  OF  DELHI 

Seven  ancient  ruined  cities,  representing  successive 
periods  and  dynasties  from  2500  B.  C.  to  1600  A.  D., 
encumber  the  plains  immediately  surrounding  the  city  of 
Delhi,  within  a  radius  of  eighteen  or  twenty  miles ;  and 
you  cannot  go  in  any  direction  without  passing  through 
the  ruins  of  stupendous  walls,  ancient  fortifications  and 
crumbling  palaces,  temples,  mosques  and  tombs.  Tradi- 
tion makes  the  original  Delhi  the  political  and  commercial 
rival  of  Babylon,  Nineveh,  Memphis  and  Thebes,  but  the 
modern  town  dates  from  1638,  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  the  famous  Mogul  Shah  Jehan,  of  whom  I  have 
written  so  much  in  previous  chapters.  About  eleven  miles 
from  the  city  is  a  group  of  splendid  ruins,  some  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  world,  and  a  celebrated  tower 
known  as  the  Kutab-Minar,  one  of  the  most  important 
architectural  monuments  in  India.  You  reach  it  by  the 
Great  Trunk  Road  of  India,  the  most  notable  thorough- 
fare in  the  empire,  which  has  been  the  highway  from  the 
mountains  and  northern  provinces  to  the  sacred  River 
Ganges  from  the  beginning  of  time,  and,  notwithstand- 
ing the  construction  of  railroads,  is  to-day  the  great  thor- 
oughfare of  Asia.  If  followed  it  will  lead  you  through 
Turkestan  and  Persia  to  Constantinople  and  Moscow. 
Over  this  road  came  Tamerlane,  the  Tartar  Napoleon, 
with  his  victorious  army,  and  Alexander  the  Great,  and 

268 


THE  TEMPLES  AND  TOMBS  OF  DELHI   269 

it  has  been  trodden  by  the  feet  of  successive  invaders  for 
twenty  or  thirty  centuries.  To-day  it  leads  to  the  Khyber 
Pass,  the  only  gateway  between  India  and  Afghanistan, 
where  the  frontier  is  guarded  by  a  tremendous  force,  and 
no  human  being  is  allowed  to  go  either  way  without  per- 
mits from  the  authorities  of  both  governments.  Long 
caravans  still  cross  the  desert  of  middle  Asia,  enter  and 
leave  India  through  this  pass  and  follow  the  Grand  Trunk 
Road  to  the  cities  of  the  Ganges,  It  is  always  thronged 
with  pilgrims  and  commerce ;  with  trains  of  bullock  carts, 
caravans  of  camels  and  elephants,  and  thousands  of  pedes- 
trians pass  every  milestone  daily.  Kipling  describes  them 
and  the  road  in  "Kim"  in  more  graphic  language  than 
flows  through  my  typewriter.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
Delhi  the  Grand  Trunk  Road  is  like  the  Appian  Way  of 
Rome,  both  sides  being  lined  with  the  mausoleums  of 
kings,  warriors  and  saints  in  various  stages  of  decay  and 
dilapidation.  And  scattered  among  them  are  the  ruins 
of  the  palaces  of  supplanted  dynasties  which  appeared  and 
vanished,  arose  and  fell,  one  after  another,  in  smoke  and 
blood ;  with  the  clash  of  steel,  the  cries  of  victory  and 
shrieks  of  despair. 

In  the  center  of  the  court  of  the  ancient  mosque  of 
Kutbul  Islam,  which  was  originally  built  for  a  Hindu 
temple  in  the  tenth  century,  stands  a  wrought-iron  col- 
umn, one  of  the  most  curious  things  in  India.  It  rises 
23  feet  8  inches  above  the  ground,  and  its  base,  which  is 
bulbous,  is  riveted  to  two  stone  slabs  two  feet  below  the 
surface.  Its  diameter  at  the  base  is  16  feet  4  inches  and 
at  the  capital  is  12  inches.  It  is  a  malleable  forging  of 
pure  iron,  without  alloy,  and  7.66  specific  gravity.  Ac- 
cording to  the  estimates  of  engineers,  it  weighs  about 
six  tons,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  the  Hindus  at  that  age 


270 


MODERN  INDIA 


could  forge  a  bar  of  iron  larger  and  heavier  than  was 
ever  forged  in  Europe  until  a  very  recent  date.  Its  his- 
tory is  deeply  cut  upon  its  surface  in  Sanskrit  letters. 
The  inscription  tells  us  that  it  is  "The  Arm  of  Fame  of 
Raja  Dhava,"  who  subdued  a  nation  named  the  Vahlikas, 
"and  obtained,  with  his  own  arm,  undivided  sovereignty 
upon  the  earth  for  a  long  period."  No  date  is  given,  but 
the  historians  fix  its  erection  about  the  year  319  or  320 
A.  D.  This  is  the  oldest  and  the  most  unique  of  all  the 
many  memorials  in  India,  and  has  been  allowed  to  stand 
about  1,700  years  undisturbed.  An  old  prophecy  declared 
that  Hindu  sovereigns  would  rule  as  long  as  the  column 
stood,  and  when  the  empire  was  invaded  in  1206  and 
Delhi  became  the  capital  of  a  Alohammedan  empire,  its 
conqueror,  Kutb-ud-Din  (the  Pole  Star  of  the  Faith), 
originally  a  Turkish  slave,  defied  it  by  allowing  the  pillar 
to  remain,  but  he  converted  the  beautiful  Hindu  temple 
which  surrounded  it  into  a  Moslem  mosque  and  ordered 
his  muezzins  to  proclaim  the  name  of  God  and  His 
prophet  from  its  roof,  and  to  call  the  faithful  to  pray 
within  its  walls. 

This  Hindu  temple,  which  was  converted  into  a  mosque, 
is  still  unrivaled  for  its  gigantic  arches  and  for  the  grace- 
ful beauty  of  the  tracery  which  decorated  its  walls.  Even 
in  ruins  it  is  a  magnificent  structure,  and  Lord  Curzon 
is  to  be  thanked  for  directing  its  partial  restoration  at 
government  expense.  The  architectural  treasures  of 
India  are  many,  but  there  are  none  to  spare,  and  it  is 
gratifying  to  find  officials  in  authority  who  appreciate 
the  value  of  preserving  those  that  remain  for  the  bene- 
fit of  architectural  and  historical  students.  It  it  a  pity 
that  the  original  Hindu  carvings  upon  the  columns  cannot 
be  restored.     There  were  originally  not  less  than  1,200 


THE  TEMPLES  AND  TOMBS  OF  DELHI  271 

columns,  and  each  was  richly  ornamented  with  peculiar 
Hindu  decorative  designs.  Some  of  them,  in  shadowy 
corners,  are  still  almost  perfect,  but  unfortunately  those 
which  are  most  conspicuous  were  shamefully  defaced  by 
the  Mohammedan  conquerors,  and  we  must  rely  upon 
our  imaginations  to  picture  them  as  they  were  in  their 
original  beauty.  The  walls  of  the  building  are  of  purplish 
red  standstone,  of  very  fine  grain,  almost  as  fine  as  marble, 
and  age  and  exposure  seem  to  have  hardened  it. 

In  one  corner  of  the  court  of  this  great  mosque  rises 
the  Kutab  Minar,  a  monument  and  tower  of  victory.  It 
is  supposed  to  have  been  originally  started  by  the  Hindus 
and  completed  by  their  Mohammedan  conquerors. 
Another  tower,  called  the  Alai-Minar,  about  500  feet 
distant,  remains  unfinished,  and  rises  only  eighty-seven 
feet  from  the  ground.  Had  it  been  finished  as  intended, 
it  would  have  been  500  feet  high,  or  nearly  as  lofty  as  the 
Washington  monument.  According  to  the  inscription,  it 
was  erected  by  Ala-din  Khiji,  who  reigned  from  1296  to 
1 3 16,  and  remains  as  it  stood  at  his  death.  For  some  rea- 
son his  successor  never  tried  to  complete  it. 

The  Kutab  Minar,  the  completed  tower,  is  not  only  a 
notable  structure  and  one  of  the  most  perfect  in  the 
world,  second  only  in  height  to  the  Washington  monu- 
ment, but  it  is  particularly  notable  for  its  geometrical 
proportions.  Its  height,  238  feet,  is  exactly  five  times 
the  diameter  of  its  base.  It  is  divided  into  five  stories 
each  tapering  in  perfect  proportions  and  being  divided  by 
projecting  balconies  or  galleries.  The  first  story,  95  feet 
in  height,  consists  of  twenty-four  faces  in  the  form  of 
convex  flutings,  alternately  semicircular  and  rectangular, 
built  of  alternate  courses  of  marble  and  red  sandstone. 
The  second  story  is  51  feet  high  and  the  projections  are 


272  MODERN  INDIA 

all  semicircular;  the  third  story  is  41  feet  and  the  pro- 
jections are  all  rectangular;  the  fourth,  26  feet  high,  is  a 
plain  cylinder,  and  the  fifth  or  top  story,  25  feet  high,  is 
partly  fluted  and  partly  plain.  The  ifiean  diameter  of 
each  story  is  exactly  one-fifth  of  its  height,  and  the  ma- 
terial is  alternate  courses  of  marble  and  red  sandstone,  the 
entire  exterior  surface  being  incrusted  with  inscriptions 
from  the  Koran,  sculptured  in  sharp  relief.  It  has  been 
compared  for  beauty  of  design  and  perfection  of  propor- 
tions to  the  Campanile  at  Florence,  but  that  is  convention- 
al in  every  respect,  while  the  Kutab  Minar  is  unique.  The 
sculptures  that  cover  its  surface  have  been  compared  to 
those  upon  the  column  of  Trajan  in  Rome  and  the  Col- 
umn Vendome  in  Paris,  but  they  are  intended  to  relate  the 
military  triumphs  of  the  men  in  whose  honor  they  were 
erected,  while  the  inscription  upon  the  Kutab  Minar  is  a 
continuous  recognition  of  the  power  and  glory  of  God 
and  the  virtues  of  Mahomet,  His  prophet. 

Whichever  way  you  look,  whichever  way  you  drive,  in 
that  extraordinary  place,  you  find  artistic  taste,  the  re- 
ligious devotion,  the  love  of  conquest  and  the  military 
genius  of  the  Mohammedans  combined  and  perpetuated 
in  noble  forms.  The  camel  driver  of  Mecca,  like  the 
founder  of  Christianity,  was  a  teacher  of  peace  and  an 
example  of  humility,  but  his  followers  have  been  famous 
for  their  pride,  their  brilliant  achievements,  their  audacity 
and  their  martial  violence  and  success.  The  fortresses 
scattered  over  the  plain  bear  testimony  to  their  fighting 
qualities,  and  are  an  expression  of  their  authority  and 
power;  their  gilded  palaces  and  jeweled  thrones  testify 
to  their  luxurious  taste  and  artistic  sentiment,  while  the 
massive  mausoleums  which  arise  in  every  direction  testify 
to  their  pride  and  their  determination  that  posterity  shall 


THE  TEMPLES  AND  TOMBS  OF  DELHI  273 

not  forget  their  names.  I  have  told  you  in  a  previous 
chapter  about  the  tomb  of  Humayun,  the  son  of  Baber 
(the  Lion  of  the  Faith),  who  transmitted  to  a  long  line 
of  Moguls  the  blood  of  conquerors.  But  it  is  only  one  of 
several  noble  examples  of  architecture  and  pretensions, 
and  as  evidence  of  the  human  sympathies  of  the  man 
who  built  it,  the  tomb  of  his  barber  is  near  by. 

About  a  mile  across  the  plain  is  another  group  of  still 
more  remarkable  sepulchers,  about  seven  or  eight  miles 
from  Delhi.  They  are  surrounded  by  a  grove  of  mighty 
trees,  whose  boughs  overhang  a  crumbling  wall  intended 
to  protect  them.  As  we  passed  the  portal  we  found  our- 
selves looking  upon  a  large  reservoir,  or  tank,  as  they 
call  them  here,  which  long  ago  was  blessed  by  Nizamu- 
Din,  one  of  the  holiest  and  most  renowned  of  the  Brahmin 
saints,  so  that  none  who  swims  in  it  is  ever  drowned.  A 
group  of  wan  and  hungry-looking  priests  were  standing 
there  to  receive  us  ;  they  live  on  backsheesh  and  sleep  on 
the  cold  marble  floors  of  the  tombs.  No  dinner  bell  ever 
rings  for  them.  They  depend  entirely  upon  charity,  and 
send  out  their  chelas,  or  disciples,  every  morning  to  skir- 
mish for  food  among  the  market  men  and  people  in  the 
neighborhood.  While  we  stood  talking  to  them  a  group 
of  six  naked  young  men  standing  upon  the  cornice  of  a 
temple  attracted  our  attention  by  their  violent  gesticula- 
tions, and  then,  one  after  another,  plunged  headlong, 
fifty  or  sixty  feet,  into  the  waters  of  the  pool.  As  they 
reappeared  upon  the  surface  they  swam  to  the  marble 
steps  of  the  pavilion,  shook  themselves  dry  like  dogs  and 
extended  their  hands  for  backsheesh.  It  was  an  entirely 
new  and  rather  startling  form  of  entertainment,  but  we 
learned  that  it  was  their  way  of  making  a  living,  and  that 
they  are  the  descendants  of  the  famous  men  and  women 


274  MODERN  INDIA 

who  occupy  the  wonderful  tombs,  and  are  permitted  to 
live  among  them  and  collect  backsheesh  from  visitors  as 
they  did  from  us.  Several  women  were  hanging  around, 
and  half  a  dozen  fierce-looking  mullahs,  or  Mohammedan 
priests,  with  their  beards  dyed  a  deep  sCcirlet  because  the 
prophet  had  red  hair. 

The  most  notable  of  the  tombs,  the  "Hall  of  Sixty-four 
Pillars,"  is  an  exquisite  structure  of  white  marble,  where 
rests  Azizah  Kokal  Tash,  foster  brother  of  the  great 
Mogul  Akbar.  He  was  buried  here  in  1623,  and  around^ 
him  are  the  graves  of  his  mother  and  eight  of  his  brothers 
and  sisters.  Another  tomb  of  singular  purity  and  beauty 
is  that  of  ]\ruhammud  Shah,  who  was  Alogul  from  1719 
to  1748 — the  man  whom  Nadir  Shah,  the  Persian,  con- 
quered and  despoiled.  By  his  side  lie  two  of  his  wives 
and  several  of  his  children. 

The  tomb  of  Jehanara,  daughter  of  the  great  Emperor 
Shah  Jehan,  is  a  gem  of  architecture,  a  dainty  bungalow 
of  pure  white  marble.  The  roof  is  a  low  dome  with 
broad  eaves,  and  the  walls  are  slabs  of  thin  marble  per- 
forated in  geometric  designs  like  the  finest  lace.  The 
inscription  calls  her  "Heavenly  Minded,"  and  reminds  us 
that  "God  is  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life ;"  that  it  was 
her  wish  that  nothing  but  grass  might  cover  her  dust, 
because  "Such  a  pall  alone  was  fit  for  the  lowly  dead," 
and  closes  with  a  prayer  for  the  soul  of  her  father.  Not- 
withstanding her  wishes,  so  expressed,  the  tomb  cost 
$300,000,  but  such  sentiments,  which  appear  upon  nearly 
all  of  the  Mogul  tombs,  are  not  to  be  taken  literally.  The 
inscription  over  the  entrance  to  one  of  the  grandest  in 
India,  where  lies  "The  Piercer  of  Battle  Ranks,"  admits 
that  "However  great  and  powerful  man  may  be  in  the 
presence  of  his  fellow  creatures ;  however  wide  his  power 


3^ 


THE  TEMPLES  AND  TOMBS  OF  DELHI  275 

and  influence,  and  however  large  his  wealth,  he  is  as 
humble  and  as  worthless  as  the  smallest  insect  in  the  sight 
of  God."  Human  nature  was  the  same  among  the  Moguls 
as  it  is  to-day,  and  the  men  who  were  able  to  spend  a 
million  or  half  a  million  dollars  upon  their  sepulchers 
could  afford  to  throw  in  a  few  expressions  of  humility. 

The  most  beautiful  of  the  tombs  is  that  of  Amir 
Khusrau,  a  poet  who  died  at  Delhi  in  1315,  the  author 
of  ninety-eight  poems,  many  of  which  are  still  in  popular 
use.  He  was  known  as  "the  Parrot  of  Hindustan,"  and 
enjoyed  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  seven  successive 
Moguls.  His  fame  is  immortal.  Lines  he  wrote  are 
still  recited  nightly  in  the  coffee-houses  and  sung  in  the 
harems  of  India,  and  women  and  girls  and  sentimental 
young  men  come  daily  to  lay  fresh  flowers  upon  his  tomb. 

In  the  center  of  Delhi  and  on  the  highest  eminence  of 
the  city  stands  the  Jumma  Musjid,  almost  unrivaled 
among  mosques.  There  is  nothing  elsewhere  outside  of 
Constantinople  that  can  compare  with  it,  either  in  size 
or  splendor,  and  we  are  told  that  10,000  workmen  were 
•employed  upon  it  daily  for  six  years.  It  was  built  by 
Shah  Jehan  of  red  sandstone  inlaid  with  white  marble ; 
is  crowned  with  three  splendid  domes  of  white  marble 
striped  with  black,  and  at  each  angle  of  the  courtyard 
stands  a  gigantic  minaret  composed  of  alternate  stripes 
of  marble  and  red  sandstone.  There  are  three  stately 
portals  approached  by  flights  of  forty  steps,  the  lowest  of 
which  is  140  feet  long.  Through  stately  arches  you  are 
led  into  a  courtyard  450  feet  square,  inclosed  by  splendid 
arcaded  cloisters.  In  the  center  of  the  court  is  the  usual 
fountain  basin,  at  which  the  worshipers  perform  their 
ablutions,  and  at  the  eastern  side,  facing  toward  Mecca, 
at  the  summit  of  a  flight  of  marble  steps,  is  the  mosque. 


276  MODERN  INDIA 

260  feet  long  and  120  feet  wide.     The  central  archway 
is  eighty  feet  high. 

Over  in  one  corner  of  the  cloisters  is  a  reliquary 
guarded  by  a  squad  of  fierce-looking  priests,  which  con- 
tains some  of  the  most  precious  relics  of  the  prophet  in 
existence.  They  have  a  hair  from  his  mustache,  which  is 
red ;  one  of  his  slippers,  the  print  of  his  foot  in  a  stone, 
two  copies  of  portions  of  the  Koran — one  of  them  written 
by  his  son-in-law.  Imam  Husain,  very  clear  and  well  pre- 
served, and  the  other  by  his  grandson,  Imam  Hasan. 
Both  are  very  beautiful  specimens  of  chirography,  and 
would  have  a  high  value  for  that  reason  alone,  but  ob- 
tained especial  sanctity  because  of  the  tradition  that  both 
were  written  at  the  dictation  of  the  Prophet  himself,  and 
are  among  the  oldest  copies  of  the  Koran  in  existence. 


XVIII 

THUGS,   FAKIRS,   AND   NAUTCH    DANCERS 

The  most  interesting  classes  among  the  many  kinds  of 
priests,  monks  and  other  people,  who  make  religion  a 
profession  in  India,  are  the  thugs,  fakirs  and  nautch 
girls,  who  are  supposed  to  devote  their  lives  and  talents 
to  the  service  of  the  gods.  There  are  several  kinds  of 
fakirs  and  other  religious  mendicants  in  India,  about 
live  thousand  in  number,  most  of  them  being  nomads, 
wandering  from  city  to  city  and  temple  to  temple,  de- 
pendent entirely  upon  the  charity  of  the  faithful.  They 
reward  those  who  serve  them  with  various  forms  of  bless- 
ings ;  give  them  advice  concerning  all  the  affairs  of  life 
from  the  planting  of  their  crops  to  the  training  of  their 
children.  They  claim  supernatural  powers  to  confer 
good  and  invoke  evil,  and  the  curse  of  a  fakir  is  the  last 
misfortunte  that  an  honest  Hindu  cares  to  bring  upon 
himself,  for  it  means  a  failure  of  his  harvests,  the  death 
of  his  cattle  by  disease,  sickness  in  his  family  and  bad 
luck  in  everything  that  he  undertakes.  Hence  these  holy 
men,  who  are  familiars  of  the  gods,  and  are  believed 
to  spend  most  of  their  time  communicating  with  them  in 
some  mysterious  way  about  the  affairs  of  the  world,  are 
able  to  command  anything  the  people  have  to  give,  and 
nobody  would  willingly  cross  their  shadows  or  incur  their 
displeasure.  The  name  is  pronounced  as  if  it  were  spelled 
"fah-keer." 

277 


278  ATODERN  INDIA 

These  relictions  mendicants  go  almost  naked,  usually 
with  nothing  but  the  smallest  possible  breech  clout  around 
their  loins,  which  the  police  require  them  to  wear;  they 
plaster  their  bodies  with  mud,  ashes  and  filth ;  they  rub 
clay,  gum  and  other  substances  into  their  hair  to  give  it 
an  uncouth  appearance.  Sometimes  they  wear  their  hair 
in  long  braids  hanging  down  their  backs  like  the  queue 
of  a  Chinaman ;  sometimes  in  short  braids  sticking  out 
in  every  direction  like  the  wool  of  the  pickaninnies  down 
South.  Some  of  them  have  strings  of  beads  around  their 
necks,  others  coils  of  rope  round  them.  They  never  wear 
hats  and  usually  carry  nothing  but  a  small  brass  bowl, 
in  imitation  of  Buddha,  which  is  the  only  property  they 
possess  on  earth.  They  are  usually  accompanied  by  a 
youthful  disciple,  called  a  "chela,"  a  boy  of  from  lo  to  15 
years  of  age,  who  will  become  a  fakir  himself  unless 
something  occurs  to  change  his  career. 

Many  of  the  fakirs  endeavor  to  make  themselves  look 
as  hideous  as  possible.  They  sometimes  whitewash  their 
faces  like  clowns  in  circuses ;  paint  lines  upon  their  cheeks 
and  draw  marks  under  their  eyes  to  give  them  an  in- 
human appearance.  At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  they 
may  clothe  themselves  in  filthy  rags  for  the  time  being 
as  an  evidence  of  humility.  Most  of  them  are  very  thin 
and  spare  of  flesh,  which  is  due  to  their  long  pilgrimages 
and  insufficient  nourishment.  They  sleep  wherever  they 
happen  to  be.  They  lie  down  on  the  roadside  or  beneath 
a  column  of  a  temple,  or  under  a  cart,  or  in  a  stable. 
Sometimes  kindly  disposed  people  give  them  beds,  but 
they  have  no  regular  habits ;  they  sleep  when  they  are 
sleepy,  rest  when  they  are  tired  and  continue  their 
wanderings  when  they  are  refreshed. 

About  the  time  the  people  of  the  country  are  breakfast- 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  279 

ing  in  the  morning  the  chela  starts  out  with  the  brass 
bowl  and  begs  from  house  to  house  until  the  bowl  is  filled 
with  food,  when  he  returns  to  wherever  his  master  is 
waiting  for  him  and  they  share  its  contents  between  them. 
Again  at  noon  and  again  at  night  the  chela  goes  out  on 
similar  foraging  expeditions  and  conducts  the  commissary 
department  in  that  way.  The  fakir  himself  is  supposed 
never  to  beg;  the  gods  he  worships  are  expected  to  take 
care  of  him,  and  if  they  do  not  send  him  food  he  goes 
without  it.  It  is  a  popular  delusion  that  fakirs  will  not 
accept  alms  from  anyone  for  any  purpose,  for  I  have 
considerable  personal  experience  to  the  contrary.  I  have 
offered  money  to  hundreds  of  them  and  have  never  yet 
had  it  refused.  A  fakir  will  snatch  a  penny  as  eagerly 
as  any"  beggar  you  ever  saw,  and  if  the  coin  you  offer  is 
smaller  than  he  expects  or  desires  he  will  show  his  dis- 
approval in  an  unmistakable  manner. 

The  larger  number  of  fakirs  are  merely  religious 
tramps,  worthless,  useless  impostors,  living  upon  the 
fears  and  superstitions  of  the  people  and  doing  more  harm 
than  good.  Others  are  without  doubt  earnest  and  sin- 
cere ascetics,  who  believe  that  they  are  promoting  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  their  fellow  men  by  depriving 
themselves  of  everything  that  is  necessary  to  happiness, 
purifying  their  souls  by  privation  and  hardship  and  ob- 
taining spiritual  inspiration  and  light  by  continuous 
meditation  and  prayer.  ]\lany  of  these  are  fanatics,  some 
are  epileptics,  some  are  insane.  They  tmdergo  self- 
torture  of  the  most  horrible  kinds  and  frequently  prove 
their  sincerity  by  causing  themselves  to  be  buried  alive, 
by  starving  to  death,  or  by  posing  themselves  in  un- 
natural attitudes  with  their  faces  or  their  arms  raised  to 
heaven  until  the  sinews  and  muscles  are  benumbed  or 


28o  MODERN  INDIA 

paralyzed  and  they  fall  unconscious  from  exhaustion. 
These  are  tests  of  purity  and  piety.  Zealots  frequently 
enter  temples  and  perform  such  feats  for  the  admiration 
of  pilgrims  and  by-standcrs.  Many  are  clairvoyants  and 
have  the  power  of  second  sight.  They  hypnotize  sub- 
jects and  go  into  trances  themselves,  in  which  condition 
the  soul  is  supposed  to  leave  the  body  and  visit  the  gods. 
Some  of  the  metaphysical  phenomena  are  remarkable  and 
even  startling.  They  cannot  be  explained.  You  have 
doubtless  read  of  the  wonderful  fakir,  Ram  Lai,  who 
appears  in  F.  Marion  Crawford's  story  of  "Mr.  Isaacs," 
and  there  is  a  good  deal  concerning  this  class  of  people 
in  Rudyard  Kipling's  "Kim."  Those  two,  by  the  way, 
are  universally  considered  the  best  stories  of  Indian  life 
ever  written.  You  will  perhaps  remember  also  reading 
of  the  astonishing  performances  of  Mme.  Blavatsky,  who 
visited  the  United  States  some  years  ago  as  the  high 
priestess  of  Theosophy.  Her  supernatural  manifestations 
attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention  at  one  time,  but  she  was 
finally  exposed  and  denounced  as  a  charlatan. 

Among  the  higher  class  of  fakirs  are  many  extraor- 
dinary men,  profound  scholars,  accomplished  linguists 
and  others  whose  knowledge  of  both  the  natural  and 
the  occult  sciences  is  amazing.  I  was  told  by  one  of  the 
highest  officials  of  the  Indian  Empire  of  an  extraordinary 
feat  performed  for  his  benefit  by  one  of  these  fakirs,  who 
in  some  mysterious  way  transferred  himself  several  hun- 
dred miles  in  a  single  night  over  a  country  where  there 
were  no  railroads,  and  never  took  the  trouble  to  explain 
how  his  journey  was  accomplished. 

The  best  conjurers,  magicians  and  palmists  in  India 
are  fakirs.  Many  of  them  tell  fortunes  from  the  lines 
of  the  hand  and  from  other  signs  with  extraordinary  ac- 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  281 

curacy.  Old  residents  who  have  come  in  contact  with 
this  class  relate  astounding  tales.  While  at  Calcutta 
a  young  lady  at  our  hotel  was  incidentally  informed  by  a 
fortune-telling  fakir  she  met  accidentally  in  a  Brahmin 
temple  that  she  would  soon  receive  news  that  would 
change  all  her  plans  and  alter  the  course  of  her  life,  and 
the  next  morning  she  received  a  cablegram  from  England 
announcing  the  death  of  her  father.  If  you  get  an  old 
resident  started  on  such  stories  he  will  keep  telling  them 
all  night. 

Of  course  you  have  read  of  the  incredible  and  seem- 
ingly impossible  feats  performed  by  Hindu  magicians,  of 
whom  the  best  and  most  skillful  belong  to  the  fakir  class. 
I  have  seen  the  "box  trick,"  or  "basket  trick,"  as  they  call 
it,  in  which  a  young  man  is  tied  up  in  a  gunny  sack  and 
locked  up  in  a  box,  then  at  a  signal  a  few  mornents  after 
appears  smiling  at  the  entrance  to  your  house,  but  I  have 
never  found  anyone  who  could  explain  how  he  escaped 
from  his  prison.  This  was  performed  daily  on  the  Mid- 
way Plaisance  at  the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  and  was 
witnessed  by  thousands  of  people.  And  it  is  simple  com- 
pared with  some  of  the  doings  of  these  fakirs.  They 
will  take  a  mango,  open  it  before  you,  remove  the  seeds, 
plant  them  in  a  tub  of  earth,  and  a  tree  will  grow  and 
bear  fruit  before  your  eyes  within  half  an  hour.  Or, 
what  is  even  more  wonderful,  they  will  climb  an  invisible 
rope  in  the  open  air  as  high  as  a  house,  vanish  into  space, 
and  then,  a  few  minutes  after,  will  come  smiling  around 
the  nearest  street  corner.  Or,  if  that  is  not  wonderful 
enough,  they  will  take  an  ordinary  rope,  whirl  it  around 
their  head,  toss  it  into  the  air,  and  it  will  stand  upright, 
as  if  fastened  to  some  invisible  bar,  so  taut  and  firm  that 
a  heavy  man  can  climb  it. 


282  MODERN  IXDIA 

These  are  a  few  of  the  wonderful  things  fakirs  per- 
form about  tlic  temples,  and  nobody  has  ever  been  able 
to  discover  how  they  do  it.  People  who  begin  an  inquiry 
usually  abandon  it  and  declare  that  the  tricks  are  not- 
done  at  all,  that  the  spectators  arc  simply  hypnotized  and 
imagine  that  they  have  seen  what  they  afterward  describe. 
This  explanation  is  entirely  plausible.  It  is  the  only  safe 
one  that  can  be  given,  and  it  is  confirmed  by  other  mani- 
festations of  hypnotic  power  that  you  would  not  believe 
if  I  should  describe  them.  Fakirs  have  hypnotized  peo- 
ple I  know  and  have  made  them  witness  events  and 
spectacles  which  they  afterward  learned  were  transpiring, 
at  the  very  moment,  five  and  six  thousand  miles  away. 
For  example,  a  young  gentleman,  relating  his  experience, 
declared  that  under  the  power  of  one  of  these  men  he 
attended  his  brother's  wedding  in  a  London  church  and 
wrote  home  an  account  of  it  that  was  so  accurate  in  its 
details  that  his  family  were  convinced  that  he  had  come 
all  the  way  from  India  without  letting  them  know  and 
had  attended  it  secretly. 

Many  of  the  snake  charmers  to  whom  I  referred  in  a 
previous  chapter  are  fakirs,  devoted  to  gods  whose  spe- 
cialties are  snakes,  and  pious  Hindus  believe  that  the 
deities  they  worship  protect  them  from  the  venom  of  the 
reptiles.  Sometimes  you  can  see  one  of  them  at  a  temple 
deliberately  permit  his  pets  to  sting  him  on  the  arm,  and 
he  will  show  you  the  blood  flowing.  Taking  a  little 
black  stone  from  his  pocket  he  will  rub  it  over  the  wound 
and  then  rub  it  upon  the  head  of  the  snake.  Then  he 
will  rub  the  wound  again,  and  again  the  head  of  the 
snake,  all  the  time  muttering  prayers,  making  passes  with 
his  hands,  bowing  his  body  to  the  ground,  and  going 
through  other  forms  of  worship,  and  when  he  has  con- 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  283 

eluded  he  will  assure  you  that  the  bite  of  the  snake  has 
been  made  harmless  by  the  incantation. 

I  have  never  seen  more  remarkable  contortionists  than 
the  fakirs  who  can  be  always  found  about  temples  in 
Benares,  and  frequently  elsewhere.  They  are  usually 
very  lean  men,  almost  skeletons.  As  they  wear  no  cloth- 
ing, one  can  count  their  bones  through  the  skin,  but 
their  muscles  and  sinews  are  remarkably  strong  and  sup- 
ple. They  twist  themselves  into  the  most  extraordinary 
shapes.  No  professional  contortionist  upon  the  vaude- 
ville stage  can  compare  with  these  religious  mendicants, 
who  give  exhibitions  in  the  open  air,  or  in  the  porticos 
of  the  temples  in  honor  of  some  god  and  call  it  worship. 
They  acquire  the  faculty  of  doing  their  feats  by  long  and 
tedious  training  under  the  instruction  of  older  fakirs, 
who  are  equally  accomplished,  and  the  performances  are 
actually  considered  worship,  just  as  much  as  an  organ 
voluntary,  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  or  a  display  of  pulpit 
eloquence  in  one  of  our  churches.  The  more  wonderful 
their  feats,  the  more  acceptable  to  their  gods,  and  they 
go  from  city  to  city  through  all  India,  and  from  temple 
to  temple,  twisting  their  bodies  into  unnatural  shapes  and 
postures  under  the  impression  that  they  will  thereby  at- 
tain a  higher  degree  of  holiness  and  exalt  themselves  in 
the  favor  of  heaven.  They  do  not  give  exhibitions  for 
money.  They  cannot  be  hired  for  any  price  to  appear 
upon  a  public  stage.  Theatrical  agents  in  London  and 
elsewhere  have  frequently  tempted  them  with  fortunes, 
but  they  cannot  be  persuaded  to  display  their  gifts  for 
gain,  or  violate  their  caste  and  the  traditions  of  their 
profession. 

There  is  a  fearful  sect  of  fakirs  devoted  to  Siva  and 
to   Bhairava,   the    god   of   lunacy,    who   associate   with 


284  MODERN  INDIA 

evil  spirits,  ghouls  and  vampires,  and  practice  hideous 
rites  of  blood,  lust  and  gluttony.  They  tear  their  flesh 
with  their  finger-nails,  slash  themselves  with  knives,  and 
occasionally  engage  in  a  frantic  dance  from  which  they 
die  of  exhaustion. 

The  nautches  of  India  have  received  considerable  at- 
tention from  many  sources.  They  are  the  object  of  the 
most  earnest  admonitions  from  missionaries  and  moral- 
ists, and  no  doubt  are  a  very  bad  lot,  although  they  do  not 
look  it,  and  are  a  recognized  and  respected  profession 
among  the  Hindus.  They  are  consecrated  to  certain  gods 
soon  after  their  birth ;  they  arc  the  brides  of  the  impure 
and  obscene  deities  of  the  Hindu  pantheon,  and  are  at- 
tached to  their  temples,  receiving  their  support  from  the 
collections  of  the  priests  or  the  permanent  endowments, 
often  living  under  the  temple  roof  and  almost  always 
within  the  sacred  premises.  The  amount  of  their  in- 
comes varies  according  to  the  wealth  and  the  revenues  of 
the  idol  to  which  they  were  attached.  They  dance  before 
him  daily  and  sing  hymns  in  his  honor.  The  ranks  of 
the  nautch  girls  are  sometimes  recruited  by  the  purchase 
of  children  from  poor  parents,  and  by  the  dedication  of 
the  daughters  of  pious  Hindu  families  to  that  vocation, 
just  as  in  Christian  countries  daughters  are  consecrated 
to  the  vocation  of  religion  from  the  cradle  and  sons  are 
dedicated  to  the  priesthood  and  ministry.  Indeed  it  is 
considered  a  high  honor  for  the  daughter  of  a  Hindu 
family  to  be  received  into  a  temple  as  a  nautch. 

They  never  marry  and  never  retire.  When  they  be- 
come too  old  to  dance  they  devote  themselves  to  the  train- 
ing of  their  successors.  They  are  taught  to  read  and 
write,  to  sing  and  dance,  to  embroider  and  play  upon 
various  musical  instruments.     They  are  better  educated 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  285 

than  any  other  class  of  Hindu  women,  and  that  largely 
accounts  for  their  attractions  and  their  influence  over 
men.  They  have  their  own  peculiar  customs  and  rules, 
similar  to  those  of  the  geishas  of  Japan,  and  if  a  nautch 
is  so  fortunate  as  to  inherit  property  it  goes  to  the  temple 
to  which  she  belongs.  This  custom  has  become  law  by 
the  confirmation  of  the  courts.  No  nautch  can  retain 
any  article  of  value  without  the  consent  of  the  priest  in 
charge  of  the  temple  to  which  she  is  attached,  and  those 
who  have  received  valuable  gifts  of  jewels  from  their 
admirers  and  lovers  are  often  compelled  to  sur- 
render them.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  furnished 
comfortable  homes,  clothing  and  food,  and  are  taken  care 
of  all  of  their  lives,  just  the  same  as  religious  devotees 
belonging  to  any  other  sect.  Notwithstanding  their 
notorious  unchastity  and  immorality,  no  discredit  attaches 
to  the  profession,  and  the  very  vices  for  which  they  are 
condemned  are  considered  acts  of  duty,  faith  and  worship, 
although  it  seems  almost  incredible  that  a  religious  sect 
will  encourage  gross  immorality  in  its  own  temples.  Yet 
Hinduism  has  done  worse  things  than  that,  and  other 
of  its  practices  are  even  more  censurable. 

Bands  of  nautches  are  considered  necessary  appur- 
tenances of  the  courts  of  native  Hindu  princes,  although 
they  are  never  found  in  the  palaces  of  Mohammedans. 
They  are  brought  forward  upon  all  occasions  of  cere- 
mony, religious,  official  and  convivial.  If  the  viceroy 
visits  the  capital  of  one  of  the  native  states  he  is  enter- 
tained by  their  best  performances.  They  have  a  place 
on  the  programme  at  all  celebrations  of  feast  days ;  they 
appear  at  weddings  and  birthday  anniversaries,  and  are 
quite  as  important  as  an  orchestra  at  one  of  our  social 
occasions  at  home.     They  are  invited  to  the  homes  of 


286  MODERN  INDIA 

native  frentlcmen  on  all  great  occasions  and  are  treated 
with  the  utmost  deference  and  generosity.  They  are  per- 
mitted liberties  and  are  accorded  honors  that  would  not 
be  granted  to  the  wives  and  daughters  of  those  who  enter- 
tain them,  and  stand  on  the  same  level  as  the  Brahmin 
priests,  yet  they  are  what  we  would  call  women  of  the 
town,  and  receive  visitors  indiscriminately  in  the  temples 
and  other  sacred  places,  according  to  their  pleasure  and 
whims. 

A  stranger  in  India  finds  it  difficult  to  reconcile  these 
facts,  but  any  resident  will  assure  you  of  the  truth.  The 
priests  are  said  to  encourage  the  attentions  of  rich  young 
Hindus  because  of  the  gifts  of  money  and  jewels  they  are 
in  the  habit  of  showering  upon  nautches  they  admire,  but 
each  girl  is  supposed  to  have  a  "steady"  lover,  upon 
whom  she  bestows  her  aflfections  for  the  time  being.  He 
may  be  old  or  young,  married  or  unmarried,  rich  or  poor, 
for  as  a  rule  it  is  to  these  women  that  a  Hindu  gentleman 
turns  for  the  companionship  which  his  own  home  does 
not  supply. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  beauty  of  the 
nautches.  It  is  purely  a  matter  of  taste.  There  is  no  rule 
by  which  personal  attractions  may  be  measured,  and 
doubtless  there  may  be  beautiful  women  among  them, 
but,  so  far,  I  have  never  seen  one.  Their  costumes  are 
usually  very  elaborate,  the  materials  being  of  the  rarest 
and  finest  qualities  and  profusely  embroidered,  and  their 
jewels  are  usually  costly.  Their  manners  are  gentle,  re- 
fined and  modest ;  they  are  perfectly  self-possessed  under 
all  circumstances,  and,  while  their  dancing  would  not  be 
attractive  to  the  average  American  taste,  it  is  not  immod- 
est, and  consists  of  a  succession  of  graceful  gestures  and 
posturing  which  is  supposed  to  have  a  definite  meaning 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  287 

and  express  sentiments  and  emotions.  Most  of  the 
dances  are  interpretations  of  poems,  legends,  stories  of 
the  gods  and  heroes  of  Indian  mythology.  Educated 
Hindus  profess  to  be  able  to  understand  them,  although 
to  a  foreigner  they  are  nothing  more  than  meaningless 
motions.  I  have  asked  the  same  question  of  several  mis- 
sionaries, but  have  never  been  able  to  discover  a  nautch 
dancer  who  has  abandoned  her  vocation,  or  has  deserted 
her  temple,  or  has  run  away  with  a  lover,  or  has  been 
reached  in  any  way  by  the  various  missions  for  women  in 
India.  They  seem  to  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  their 
present  and  their  future. 

The  greatest  good  women  missionaries  have  done  in 
India,  I  think,  is  in  bringing  modern  medical  science  into 
the  homes  of  the  natives.  No  man  is  ever  admitted  to  the 
zenanas,  no  matter  what  may  happen,  and  thousands 
upon  thousands,  yes,  millions  upon  millions,  of  poor 
creatures  have  suffered  and  died  for  lack  of  ordinary 
medical  attention  because  of  the  etiquette  of  caste.  Amer- 
ican women  brought  the  first  relief,  graduates  from  med- 
ical schools  in  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Chicago,  and 
now  there  are  women  physicians  attached  to  all  of  the 
missions,  and  many  of  them  are  practicing  independently 
in  the  larger  cities.  They  are  highly  respected  and  exert 
a  great  influence. 

Nizam-u-Din,  one  of  the  haliest  of  the  Hindu  saints, 
lies  in  a  tomb  of  marble  lace  work  and  embroidery  near 
Delhi ;  as  exquisite  a  bit  of  architecture  as  you  can 
imagine,  so  dainty  in  all  its  details  that  it  ought  to  be  the 
sepulcher  of  a  fairy  queen  instead  of  that  of  the  founder 
of  the  Thugs,  the  secret  religious  society  of  assassins 
which  was  suppressed  and  practically  exterminated  by 
the  British  authorities  in  the  '6o's  and  '70's.     He  died  in 


288  MODERN  INDIA 

1652.  He  was  a  fanatic  who  worshiped  the  goddess  Kali, 
the  black  wife  of  Siva,  and  believed  that  the  removal  of 
unbelievers  from  the  earth  was  what  we  call  a  Christian 
duty.  As  Kali  prohibited  the  shedding  of  blood,  he  . 
trained  his  devotees  to  strangle  their  fellow  beings  with- 
out violating  that  prohibition  or  leaving  any  traces  of  their 
work,  and  sent  out  hundreds  of  professional  murderers 
over  India  to  diminish  the  number  of  heretics  for  the 
good  and  glory  of  the  faith.  No  saint  in  the  Hindu  cal- 
endar is  more  generally  worshiped  or  more  profoundly 
revered  unto  the  present  day.  His  tomb  is  attended  by 
groups  of  Brahmins  who  place  fresh  flowers  upon  the 
cenotaph  every  morning  and  cover  it  reverently  with 
Cashmere  shawls  of  the  finest  texture  and  pieces  of  rare 
embroidery. 

India  is  the  only  country  where  crime  was  ever  sys- 
tematically carried  on  as  a  religious  and  legitimate  occupa- 
tion in  the  belief  that  it  was  right,  for  not  only  the  Thugs, 
but  other  professional  murderers  existed  for  centuries, 
and  still  exist,  although  in  greatly  diminished  numbers, 
owing  to  the  vigilance  of  the  police ;  not  because  they 
have  become  converted  from  the  error  of  their  ways. 
There  are  yet  tribes  of  professional  criminals  who  believe 
that,  in  following  the  customs  and  the  occupation  of  their 
ancestors,  they  are  acting  in  the  only  way  that  is  right 
and  are  serving  the  gods  they  worship.  Criminal  organ- 
izations exist  in  nearly  all  the  native  states,  and  the  gov- 
ernment is  just  now  making  a  special  effort  to  stamp  out 
professional  "dacoits,"  who  are  associated  for  the  purpose 
of  highway  robbery,  cattle  stealing  and  violence  and  carry 
on  marauding  expeditions  from  their  headquarters  con- 
tinuously. They  are  just  as  well  organized  and  as  thor- 
oughly devoted  to  their  business  as  the  gangs  of  high- 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS  289 

waymen  that  used  to  make  travel  dangerous  through  Eu- 
rope in  the  middle  ages.  And  there  are  other  criminal 
organizations  with  which  it  is  even  more  difficult  to  deal. 
A  recent  report  from  the  office  of  the  home  secre- 
tary says: 

"We  ajl  know  that  trades  go  by  castes  in  India ;  a  fam- 
ily of  carpenters  will  be  a  family  of  carpenters  a  century 
or  five  centuries  hence,  if  they  last  so  long ;  so  with  grain 
dealers,  blacksmiths,  leather-makers  and  every  known 
trade.  If  we  keep  this  in  mind  when  we  speak  of  'pro- 
fessional criminals'  we  shall  realize  what  the  term  really 
means.  It  means  that  the  members  of  a  tribe  whose  an- 
cestors were  criminals  from  time  immemorial  are  them- 
selves destined  by  the  use  of  the  caste  to  commit  crime, 
and  their  descendants  will  be  offenders  against  the  law 
till  the  whole  tribe  is  exterminated  or  accounted  for  in  the 
manner  of  the  Thugs.  Therefore,  when  a  man  tells  you 
he  is  a  badhak,  or  a  kanjar,  or  a  sonoria,  he  tells  you, 
what  few  Europeans  ever  thoroughly  realize,  that  he  is 
an  habitual  and  avowed  offender  against  the  law,  and  has 
been  so  from  the  beginning  and  will  be  so  to  the  end ;  that 
reform  is  impossible,  for  it  is  his  trade,  his  caste — I  may 
almost  say,  his  religion — to  commit  crime." 

The  Thugs  were  broken  up  by  Captain  Sleeman,  a 
brave  and  able  British  detective  who  succeeded  in  enter- 
ing that  assassination  society  and  was  initiated  into  its 
terrible  mysteries.  A  large  number  of  the  leaders  were 
executed  from  time  to  time,  but  the  government,  whose 
policy  is  always  to  respect  religious  customs  of  the  Hin- 
dus, administered  as  little  punishment  as  possible,  and 
"rounding  up"  all  of  the  members  of  this  cult,  as  ranch- 
men would  say,  "corralled"  them  at  the  Town  of  Jabal- 
pur,  near  the  City  of  Allahabad,  in  northeastern  India, 


290  MODERN  INDIA 

■where  they  have  since  been  under  surveillance.  Origi- 
nally there  were  2,500.  but  now  only  about  half  of  that 
number  remain,  who  up  to  this  date  are  not  allowed  to 
leave  without  a  permit  the  inclosure  in  which  they  are 
kept. 

One  of  the  criminal  tribes,  called  Barwars,  numbers 
about  a  thousand  families  and  inhabits  forty-eight  vil- 
lages in  the  district  of  Gonda,  in  the  Province  of  Oudh, 
not  far  from  Delhi.  They  live  quietly  and  honestly  upon 
their  farms  during  the  months  of  planting  and  harvest- 
ing, but  between  crops  they  wander  in  small  gangs  over 
distant  parts  of  the  country,  robbing  and  plundering  with 
great  courage  and  skill.  They  even  despoil  the  temples 
of  the  gods.  The  only  places  that  are  sacred  to  them  are 
the  temple  of  Jaganath  (Juggernaut),  in  the  district  of 
Orissa,  and  the  shrine  of  a  certain  Mohammedan  martyr. 
They  have  a  regular  organization  under  hereditary  chiefs, 
and  if  a  member  of  the  clan  gives  up  thieving  he  is  dis- 
graced and  excommunicated.  The  plunder  is  divided  pro 
rata,  and  a  certain  portion  is  set  aside  for  their  priests  and 
as  offerings  to  their  gods. 

There  is  a  similar  clan  of  organized  robbers  and  mur- 
derers known  as  Sonoriaths,  whose  special  business  is  to 
steal  cattle,  and  the  Mina  tribe,  which  lives  in  the  district 
of  Gurgaon,  on  the  frontier  of  the  Punjab  Province,  has 
2,000  members,  given  up  entirely  to  robbery  and  murder. 
They  make  no  trouble  at  home.  They  are  honest  in  their 
dealings,  peaceable,  charitable,  hospitable,  and  have  con- 
siderable wealth,  but  between  crops  the  larger  portion  of 
the  men  disappear  from  their  homes  and  go  into  other 
provinces  for  the  purpose  of  robbery,  burglary  and  other 
forms  of  stealing.  In  the  Agra  Province  are  twenty-nine 
different  tribes  who  from  time  immemorial  have  made 


THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS         29I 

crime  their  regular  occupation  and,  like  all  those  men- 
tioned, look  upon  it  as  not  only  a  legitimate  but  a  re- 
ligious act  ordered  and  approved  by  the  deities  they  wor- 
ship. 

Special  laws  have  been  enacted  for  restraining  these 
castes  or  clans,  and  special  police  officers  now  exercise 
supervision  over  them.  Every  man  is  required  to  register 
at  the  police  headquarters  and  receive  a  passport.  He  is 
required  to  live  within  a  certain  district,  and  cannot 
change  his  abode  or  leave  its  limits  without  permission. 
If  he  does  so  he  is  arrested  and  imprisoned.  The  author- 
ities believe  that  they  have  considerably  reduced  the 
amount  of  crime  committed  by  these  clansmen,  who 
are  too  cunning  and  courageous  to  be  entirely  suppressed. 
No  amount  of  vigilance  can  prevent  them  from  leaving 
their  villages  and  going  off  into  other  provinces  for  crim- 
inal purposes,  and  the  railways  greatly  facilitate  their 
movements. 

Nevertheless,  if  you  will  examine  the  criminal  statistics 
of  India  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  small  number  of  ar- 
rests, trials  and  convictions  for  penal  offenses.  The  fig- 
ures demonstrate  that  the  people  are  honest  and  law  abid- 
ing. There  is  less  crime  in  India  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try in  proportion  to  population,  much  less  than  in  Eng- 
land or  the  United  States.  Out  of  a  population  of 
300,000,000  people  during  the  ten  years  from  1892 
to  1902  there  was  an  annual  average  of  1,015,550  crim- 
inal cases  before  the  courts,  and  an  average  of  1,345,667 
offenses  against  the  criminal  laws  reported,  while  870,665 
persons  were  convicted  of  crime  in  1902,  with  the  follow- 
ing penalties  imposed : 

Death    500 


2C)2  MODERN  INDIA 

Penal  servitude   i./O? 

Imprisonment 175-795 

Fines    628,092 

Over  two  years'  imprisonment  7^57^ 

Between  one  and  two  years 39,067 

Between  fifteen  days  and  one  year 86,653 

Under  fifteen  days  34,5 17 

The  following  were  the  most  serious  crimes  in  1902: 

Arrests.         Convictions. 

Offenses  against  public  peace 1*5,190  5,088 

Murder   3,255  1,102 

Assault   42,496  12,597 

Dacoity  or  highway  robbery   3,320  706 

Cattle  stealing 29,691  9.307 

Ordinary  theft    183,463  45,566 

House-breaking    192,353  23,143 

Vagrancy   25.212  18,877 

Public  nuisances 216,285  201,421 

The  following  table  will  show  the  total  daily  average  of 
prisoners,  men  and  women,  serving  sentences  for  penal 
offenses  in  the  prisons  of  India  during  the  years  named : 

Men.      Women.       Total. 

1892  93.061 

1893  91.976 

1894 92.236 

1895  97.869 

1896 100,406 

1897 109,989 

1898 103,517 

1899 101,518 

1900 114.854 

I9OI  108,258 


3.142 

96,202 

2,988 

94,964 

2,941 

95.177 

3.216 

101,085 

3.280 

103.686 

3.277 

113.266 

2,927 

106,446 

2.773 

104.292 

3.253 

118,107 

3,124 

111,382 

THUGS,  FAKIRS  AND  DANCERS         293 

Those  who  are  famihar  with  criminal  statistics  in  the 
United  States  and  other  countries,  will,  I  am  confident, 
agree  with  me  that  this  is  a  most  remarkable  record  for 
a  population  of  300,000,000,  illiterate,  superstitious,  im- 
pregnated with  false  ideas  of  honor  and  morality,  and 
packed  so  densely  as  the  people  of  India  are.  The  courts 
of  justice  have  reached  a  high  standard ;  the  lower  courts 
are  administered  almost  exclusively  by  natives ;  the  high- 
er courts  by  English  and  natives  together.  No  trial  of 
importance  ever  takes  place  except  before  a  mixed  court, 
and  usually  the  three  great  religions — Brahminism,  Mo- 
hammedanism and  Christianity — are  represented  on  the 
bench. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  and  delicate  tasks  of  the  Brit- 
ish authorities  has  been  to  prevent  infanticide,  the  murder 
of  girl  infants,  because  from  time  immemorial  among  all 
the  races  of  India  it  has  been  practiced  openly  and  with- 
out restraint  and  in  many  sections  as  a  religious  duty. 
And  what  has  made  it  more  difficult,  it  prevailed  most  ex- 
tensively among  the  families  of  the  highest  rank,  and 
among  the  natives,  communities  and  provinces  which 
were  most  loyal  to  the  British  crown.  For  example,  the 
Rajput?,  of  whom  I  have  written  at  length  in  a  previous 
chapter,  are  the  chivalry  of  India.  They  trace  their  de- 
scent from  the  gods,  and  are  proud  of  their  nobility  and 
their  honor,  yet  it  has  been  the  custom  among  them  as  far 
back  as  traditions  run,  to  strangle  more  than  half  their 
girl  babies  at  birth,  and  until  this  was  stopped  the  rec- 
ords showed  numbers  of  villages  where  there  was  not  a 
single  girl,  and  where  there  never  had  been  one  within 
the  memory  of  man.  As  late  as  the  census  of  1869  seven 
villages  were  reported  with  104  boys  and  one  girl,  twen- 
ty-three villages  with  284  boys  and  twenty-three  girls 


294  MODERN  INDIA 

and  many  others  in  similar  proportions.  The  statistics  of 
the  recent  census  of  1901,  by  the  disparity  between  the 
sexes,  show  that  this  crime  has  not  yet  been  stamped 
out.  In  the  Rajputana  Province,  for  example,  there  are 
2,447,401  boys  to  1,397,911  girls,  and  throughout  the  en- 
tire population  of  India  there  are  72,506,661  boys  to  49,- 
516,381  girls.  Among  the  Hindus  of  all  ages  there  are 
105,163,345  men  to  101,945,387  women,  and  among  the 
Sikhs,  who  also  strangle  their  children,  there  are  1,241,- 
543  men  to  950.823  women.  Among  the  Buddhists,  the 
Jains  and  other  religions  the  ratio  between  the  sexes  was 
more  even. 

Sir  John  Strachy,  in  his  admirable  book  upon  India, 
says :  "These  people  have  gone  on  killing  their  children 
generation  after  generation  because  their  forefathers  did 
so  before  them,  not  only  without  a  thought  that  there  is 
anything  criminal  in  the  practice,  but  with  the  conviction 
that  it  is  right.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  if  vigilance 
were  relaxed  the  custom  would  before  long  become  as 
prevalent  as  ever."  The  measures  taken  by  the  govern- 
ment have  been  radical  and  stringent.  A  system  of  regis- 
tration of  births  and  deaths  was  provided  by  an  act  passed 
in  1870,  with  constant  inspection  and  frequent  enumera- 
tion of  children  among  the  suspected  classes,  and  no  ef- 
forts were  spared  to  convince  them  that  the  government 
had  finally  resolved  to  prevent  the  practice  and  in  doing 
so  treated  it  as  murder. 


XIX 

SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB 

At  Delhi  the  railway  forks.  One  branch  runs  on  to  the 
frontier  of  Afghanistan  via  Lahore  and  Peshawur,  and 
the  other  via  Umballa,  an  important  military  post,  to 
Simla,  the  summer  capital  and  sanitarium  of  India.  Be- 
cause of  the  climate  there  must  be  two  capitals.  From 
October  to  April  the  viceroy  occupies  the  government 
house  at  Calcutta  with  the  civil  and  military  authorities 
around  him,  but  as  soon  as  the  summer  heat  sets  in  the 
whole  administration,  civil,  military  and  judicial,  removes 
to  Simla,  and  everybody  follows,  foreign  consuls,  bankers, 
merchants,  lawyers,  butchers,  bakers  and  candlestick 
makers,  hotel  and  boardinghouse  keepers,  with  their  serv- 
ants, coachmen  and  horses.  The  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army,  the  adjutant  general  and  all  the  heads  of  the 
other  departments  with  their  clerks  take  their  books  and 
records  along  with  them.  The  winter  population  of 
Simla  is  about  15,000;  the  summer  population  reaches 
30,000.  The  exodus  lasts  about  a  month,  during  which 
time  every  railway  train  going  north  is  crowded  and 
every  extra  car  that  can  be  spared  is  borrowed  from  the 
other  railways.  The  last  of  October  the  migration  is  re- 
versed and  everybody  returns  to  Calcutta.  This  has  been 
going  on  for  nearly  fifty  years.  The  journey  to  Umballa 
is  made  by  rail  and  thence  by  "dak-gherries,"  a  sort  of 
covered  democrat  wagon,  "mailtongas,"  a  species  of  cart, 

295 


296  MODERN  INDIA 

bullock  carts,  army  wagons  and  carriages  of  every  size 
and  description,  while  the  luggage  is  brought  up  the  hills 
in  various  kinds  of  conveyance,  much  of  it  on  the  heads 
of  coolies,  both  women  and  men.  The  distance,  fifty- 
seven  miles  by  the  highway,  is  all  uphill,  but  can  be  made 
by  an  ordinary  team  in  twelve  hours. 

Long  experience  has  taught  the  government  officials 
how  to  make  this  removal  in  a  scientific  manner,  and  the 
records  are  arranged  for  easy  transportation.  The  vice- 
roy has  his  own  outfit,  and  when  the  word  is  given  the 
transfer  takes  place  \vithout  the  slightest  difficulty  or  con- 
fusion. A  public  functionary  leaves  his  papers  at  his 
desk,  puts  on  his  hat  and  walks  out  of  his  office  at  Cal- 
cutta ;  three  days  later  he  walks  into  his  office  at  Simla, 
hangs  his  hat  on  a  peg  behind  the  door  and  sits  down  at 
his  desk  with  the  same  papers  lying  in  the  same  positions 
before  him,  and  business  goes  on  with  the  interruption  of 
only  three  or  four  days  at  most.  The  migration  makes 
no  more  difference  to  the  administration  than  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  earth.  Formerly  the  various  offices  were 
scattered  over  all  parts  of  Simla,  but  they  have  been 
gradually  concentrated  in  blocks  of  handsome  buildings 
constructed  at  a  cost  of  several  millions  of  dollars.  The 
home  secretary,  the  department  of  public  works,  the 
finance  and  revenue  departments,  the  secretary  of  agri- 
culture, the  postmaster  general  and  the  secretary  of  war, 
each  has  quite  as  good  an  office  for  himself  and  his  clerks 
as  he  occupies  at  Calcutta.  There  is  a  courthouse,  a  law 
library,  a  theatre  and  opera  house,  a  number  of  clubs  and 
churches,  for  the  archbishop  and  the  clergy  follow  their 
flocks,  and  the  Calcutta  merchants  come  along  with  their 
clerks  and  merchandise  to  supply  the  wants  of  their  cus- 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  297 

tomers.  It  is  a  remarkable  migration  of  a  great  govern- 
ment. 

Although  absolutely  necessary  for  their  health,  and 
that  of  their  families,  it  is  rather  expensive  for  govern- 
ment employes,  or  civil  servants,  as  they  are  called  in 
India,  to  keep  up  two  establishments,  one  in  Simla  and 
one  in  Calcutta.  But  they  get  the  benefit  of  the  stimu- 
lating atmosphere  of  the  hills  and  escape  the  perpetual 
Turkish  bath  that  is  called  summer  in  Calcutta.  Many 
of  the  higher  officials,  merchants,  bankers,  society  people 
and  others  have  bungalows  at  Simla  furnished  like  our 
summer  cottages  at  home.  They  extend  over  a  long 
ridge,  with  beautiful  grounds  around  them.  It  is  fully 
six  miles  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other,  and  the 
principal  street  is  more  than  five  miles  long.  The  houses 
are  built  upon  terraces  up  and  down  the  slope,  with  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  panoramas  of  mountain  scenery  that 
can  be  imagined  spread  out  before  them.  Deep  valleys, 
rocky  ravines  and  gorges  break  the  mountainsides,  which 
are  clothed  with  forests  of  oak  and  other  beautiful  trees, 
while  the  background  is  a  crescent  of  snowy  peaks  rising 
range  above  range  against  the  azure  sky.  Many  people 
live  in  tents,  particularly  the  military  families,  and  make 
themselves  exceedingly  comfortable.  Simla  is  quite  cold 
in  winter,  being  7,084  feet  above  the  sea  and  situated  on 
the  thirty-second  parallel  of  north  latitude,  about  the 
same  as  Charleston,  S.  C,  but  in  summer  the  climate  is 
very  fine. 

The  viceroy  occupies  a  chateau  called  the  Viceregal 
Lodge,  perched  upon  a  hill  overlooking  the  town,  and 
from  his  porches  commands  as  grand  a  mountain  land- 
scape as  you  could  wish  to  see.  The  Viceregal  Lodge, 
like  the  government-house  in  Calcutta,  was  designed  es- 


298  MODERN  INDIA 

pccially  for  its  purpose  and  is  arranged  for  entertain- 
ments upon  a  broad  scale.  The  vice-queen  takes  the  lead 
in  social  life,  and  no  woman  in  that  position  has  ever 
been  more  competent  than  Lady  Curzon.  There  is  really 
more  society  at  Simla  than  in  Calcutta.  It  is  the  Newport 
of  India,  but  fortunately  for  the  health  of  those  who 
participate,  it  is  mostly  out  of  doors.  The  military  ele- 
ment is  large  enough  to  give  it  an  athletic  and  sporting 
character,  and  to  the  girls  who  are  popular  a  summer 
at  Simla  is  one  prolonged  picnic.  There  are  races,  polo, 
tennis,  golf,  drives,  rides,  walks,  garden  parties  and  all 
sorts  of  afternoon  and  morning  functions.  F.  Marion 
Crawford  describes  the  gayeties  of  Simla  in  ''Mr.  Isaacs," 
the  first  and  best  novel  he  ever  wrote,  and  gives  a  graphic 
account  of  a  polo  match  in  which  his  hero  was  knocked 
off  his  horse  and  had  his  head  bathed  by  the  young  lady 
he  was  in  love  with.  Kipling  has  given  us  a  succession 
of  pictures  of  Simla  society,  and  no  novel  of  Indian  life 
is  without  a  chapter  or  two  on  it,  because  it  is  really  the 
most  interesting  place  in  all  the  empire. 

If  you  want  to  get  a  better  idea  of  the  place  and  its 
attractions  than  I  can  give,  read  "Mr.  Isaacs."  Many  of 
its  incidents  are  drawn  from  life,  and  the  hero  is  a  Per- 
sian Jew  of  Delhi,  named  Jacobs,  whose  business  is  to 
sell  precious  stones  to  the  native  princes.  Crawford  used 
to  spend  his  summers  at  Simla  when  he  was  a  reporter 
for  the  Allahabad  Pioneer,  and  made  Jacobs's  acquaint- 
ance there.  His  Indian  experiences  are  very  interesting, 
and  he  tells  them  as  well  as  he  writes.  When  he  was 
quite  a  young  man  he  went  to  India  as  private  secretary 
for  an  Englishman  of  importance  who  died  over  there 
and  left  him  stranded.  Having  failed  to  obtain  employ- 
ment and  having  reached  the  bottom  of  his  purse,  he  de- 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  299 

cided  in  desperation  to  enlist  as  a  private  soldier  in  the 
army,  and  was  looking  through  the  papers  for  the  loca- 
tion of  the  recruiting  office  when  his  eye  was  attracted 
by  an  advertisement  from  the  Allahabad  Pioneer,  which 
wanted  a  reporter.  Although  he  had  never  done  any 
literary  work,  he  decided  to  make  a  dash  for  it,  and  be- 
came one  of  the  most  successful  and  influential  journalists 
in  India  until  his  career  was  broken  in  upon  by  the  suc- 
cess of  "Mr.  Isaccs,"  his  first  novel,  which  was  published 
in  England  and  turned  his  pen  from  facts  to  fiction. 

The  railway  journey  from  Delhi  to  Lahore  is  not  ex- 
citing, although  it  passes  through  a  section  of  great  his- 
torical interest  which  has  been  fought  over  by  contending 
armies  and  races  for  more  than  3,000  years.  Several  of 
the  most  important  battles  in  India  occurred  along  the 
right  of  way,  and  they  changed  the  dynasties  and  re- 
ligions of  the  empire,  but  the  plains  tell  no  tales  and  show 
no  signs  of  the  events  they  have  witnessed.  Everybody 
who  has  read  Kipling's  stories  will  be  interested  in  Um- 
balla,  although  it  is  nothing  but  an  important  military 
post  and  railway  junction.  He  tells  you  about  it  in 
"Kim,"  and  several  of  his  army  stories  are  laid  there. 
Sirhind,  thirty-five  miles  beyond,  was  formerly  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  cities  in  the  Mogul  Empire,  and  for  a 
radius  of  several  miles  around  it  the  earth  is  covered  with 
ruins.  It  was  the  scene  of  successive  struggles  between 
the  Hindus  and  the  Sikhs  for  several  centuries,  and  even 
to  this  day  every  Sikh  who  passes  through  Sirhind  picks 
up  and  carries  away  a  brick,  which  he  throws  into  the 
first  river  he  comes  to.  In  hope  that  in  time  the  detested 
city  will  utterly  disappear  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Sir- 
hind is  the  headquarters  of  American  Presbyterian  mis- 
sionary work  in  the  Punjab,  as  that  part  of  India  is  called, 


300 


MODERN   INDIA 


and  the  headquarters  of  the  larp^cst  irris:;:ation  system  in 
the  world,  which  supplies  water  to  more  than  6,000,000 
acres  of  land. 

Just  before  reaching  Lahore  we  passed  through  Am-- 
ritsar,  a  city  which  is  famous  for  many  things,  and  is  the 
capital  of  the  Sikhs,  a  religious  sect  bound  together  by 
the  ties  of  faith  and  race  and  military  discipline.  They 
represent  a  Hindu  heresy  led  by  a  reformer  named  Nanak 
Shah,  who  was  born  at  Lahore  in  1469  and  preached  a 
reformation  against  idolatry,  caste,  demon  worship  and 
other  doctrines  of  the  Brahmins,  His  theories  and  ser- 
mons are  embraced  in  a  volume  known  as  the  "Granth," 
the  Sikh  Bible,  which  teaches  the  highest  standard  of 
morality,  purity  and  courage,  and  appeals  especially  to 
the  nobler  northern  races  of  India.  His  followers,  who 
were  known  as  Sikhs,  were  compelled  to  fight  for  their 
faith,  and  for  that  reason  were  organized  upon  a  military 
basis.  Their  leaders  were  warlike  men,  and  when  the 
Mogul  power  began  to  decay  they  struggled  with  the 
Afghans  for  supremacy  in  northern  India.  They  have 
ever  since  been  renowned  for  their  fighting  qualities ; 
have  always  been  loyal  to  British  authority ;  for  fifty 
years  have  furnished  bodyguards  for  the  Viceroy  of  In- 
dia, the  governors  of  Bombay,  Bengal  and  other  prov- 
inces, and  so  much  confidence  is  placed  in  their  coolness, 
courage,  honesty,  judgment  and  tact  that  they  are  em- 
ployed as  policemen  in  all  the  British  colonies  of  the  East. 
You  find  them  everywhere  from  Tien-Tsin  to  the  Red 
Sea.  They  are  men  of  unusual  stature,  with  fine  heads 
and  faces,  full  beards,  serious  disposition  and  military 
airs.  They  are  the  only  professional  fighters  in  the  world. 
You  seldom  find  them  in  any  other  business,  and  their 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  301 

admirers  declare  that  no  Sikh  was  ever  convicted  of  cow- 
ardice or  disloyalty. 

Amritsar  is  their  headquarters,  their  religious  center 
and  their  sacred  city.  Their  temples  are  more  like  Prot- 
estant churches  than  those  of  other  oriental  faiths.  They 
have  no  idols  or  altars,  but  meet  once  a  week  for  prayer 
and  praise.  Their  preacher  reads  passages  from  the 
"Granth"  and  prays  to  their  God,  who  may  be  reached 
through  the  intercession  of  Nanak  Shah,  his  prophet  and 
their  redeemer.  They  sing  hymns  similar  to  those  used 
in  Protestant  worship  and  celebrate  communion  by  par- 
taking of  wafers  of  unleavened  bread.  Their  congrega- 
tions do  not  object  to  the  presence  of  strangers,  but  us- 
ually invite  them  to  participate  in  the  worship. 

The  great  attraction  of  Amritsar  is  "The  Golden  Tem- 
ple" of  the  Sikhs  which  stands  in  the  middle  of  a  lake 
known  as  "The  Pool  of  Immortality,"  It  is  not  a  large 
building,  being  only  fifty-three  feet  square,  but  is  very 
beautiful  and  the  entire  exterior  is  covered  with  plates  of 
gold.  In  the  treasury  is  the  original  copy  of  the  "Granth" 
and  a  large  number  of  valuable  jewels  which  have  been 
collected  for  several  centuries.  Among  them  is  one  of 
the  most  valuable  strings  of  pearls  ever  collected. 

The  Punjab  is  a  province  of  northern  India  directly 
south  of  Cashmere,  east  of  Afghanistan  and  west  of 
Thibet.  It  is  one  of  the  most  enterprising,  progressive 
and  prosperous  provinces,  and,  being  situated  in  the  tem- 
perate zone,  the  character  of  the  inhabitants  partakes  of 
the  climate.  There  is  a  great  difference,  morally,  phys- 
ically and  intellectually,  between  people  who  live  in  the 
tropics  and  those  who  live  in  the  temperate  zone.  This 
rule  applies  to  all  the  world,  and  nowhere  more  than  in 
India.    Punjab  means  "five  rivers,"  and  is  formed  of  the 


302  MODERN  INDIA 

Hindu  words  "punj  ab."  The  country  is  watered  by  the 
Sutlej,  the  Beas,  the  Rabi,  the  Chenab  and  the  Jhelum 
rivers,  five  great  streams,  which  flow  into  the  Indus,  and 
thence  to  the  Arabian  Sea.  Speaking  generally,  the 
Punjab  is  a  vast  plain  of  alluvial  formation,  and  the  east- 
ern half  of  it  is  very  fertile.  The  western  part  requires 
irrigation,  the  rainfall  being  only  a  few  inches  a  year,  but 
there  is  always  plenty  of  water  for  irrigation  in  the  rivers. 
They  are  fed  by  the  melting  snows  in  the  Himalayas. 

The  City  of  Lahore,  the  capital  of  the  Punjab,  is  a 
stirring,  modern  town,  a  railway  center,  with  extensive 
workshops  employing  several  thousand  men,  and  early  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  under  the  administration  of  Ran- 
jit  Singh,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  maharajas,  it 
acquired  great  commercial  importance,  but  the  buildings 
he  erected  are  cheap  and  tawdry  beside  the  exquisite 
architectural  monuments  of  Akbar,  Shah  Jehan  and  other 
Moguls.  The  population  of  Punjab  province  by  the  cen- 
sus of  1901  is  20,330,339,  and  the  Mohammedans  are  in 
the  majority,  having  10,825,698  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
Sikhs  are  a  very  important  class  and  number  1,517,019. 
There  are  only  2,200,000  Sikhs  in  all  India,  and  those 
who  do  not  live  in  this  province  are  serving  as  soldiers 
elsewhere.  The  population  of  Lahore  is  202,000,  an  in- 
crease of  26,000  during  the  last  ten  years. 

When  you  come  into  a  Mohammedan  country  you  al- 
ways find  tiles.  Somehow  or  another  they  are  associated 
with  Islam.  The  Moors  were  the  best  tilemakers  that 
ever  lived,  and  gave  that  art  to  Spain.  In  ]\Iorocco  to- 
day the  best  modern  tiles  are  found.  The  tiles  of  Con- 
stantinople, Damascus,  Smyrna,  Jerusalem  and  other 
cities  of  Syria  and  the  Ottoman  Empire  are  superior  to 
any  you  can  find  outside  of  Morocco;  and  throughout 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  303 

Bokhara,  Turkestan,  Afghanistan  and  the  other  Moslem 
countries  of  Asia  tilemaking  has  been  practiced  for  ages. 
In  their  invasion  of  India  the  Afghans  and  Tartars 
brought  it  with  them,  and,  although  the  art  did  not  re- 
main permanently  so  far  beyond  the  border  as  Delhi,  you 
find  it  there,  in  the  rest  of  the  Punjab  and  wherever  Mo- 
hammedans are  in  the  majority. 

Lahore  is  an  ancient  city  and  has  many  interesting  old 
buildings.  The  city  itself  lies  upon  the  ruins  of  several 
predecessors  which  were  destroyed  by  invaders  during 
the  last  twelve  or  fifteen  centuries.  There  are  some  fine 
old  mosques  and  an  ancient  palace  or  two,  but  compared 
with  other  Indian  capitals  it  lacks  interest.  The  most 
beautiful  and  attractive  of  all  its  buildings  is  the  tomb  of 
Anar  Kali  (which  means  pomegranate  blossom),  a  lady 
of  the  Emperor  Akbar's  harem,  who  became  the  sweet- 
heart of  Selim,  his  son.  She  was  buried  alive  by  order 
of  the  jealous  father  and  husband  for  committing  an  un- 
pardonable offense,  and  when  Selim  became  the  Emperor 
Jehanjir  he  erected  this  wonderful  tomb  to  her  memory. 
It  is  of  white  marble,  and  the  carvings  and  mosaic  work 
are  very  fine.  In  striking  contrast  with  it  is  a  vulgar, 
fantastic  temple  covered  inside  and  out  with  convex  mir- 
rors. In  the  center  of  the  rotunda,  upon  a  raised  plat- 
form is  carved  a  lotus  flower,  and  around  it  are  eleven 
similar  platforms  of  smaller  size.  The  guides  tell  you 
that  upon  these  platforms  the  body  of  Ranjit  Singh,  the 
greatest  of  the  maharajas,  was  burned  in  1839,  and  his 
eleven  wives  were  burned  alive  upon  the  platforms 
around  him. 

The  Emperor  Jehanjir  is  buried  in  a  magnificent  mau- 
soleum in  the  center  of  a  walled  garden  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  five  miles  from  Lahore,  but  his  tomb  does  not 


304  MODERN  INDIA 

compare  in  beauty  or  splendor  witli  those  at  Agra  and 
Delhi.  There  is  a  garden  called  "The  Abode  of  Love," 
about  six  miles  out  of  town,  where  everybody  drives  in 
the  afternoon.  It  was  laid  out  by  the  Mogul  Shah  Jehan 
in  1637  for  a  recreation  ground  for  himself  and  his  sul- 
tanas when  he  visited  this  part  of  the  empire,  and  in- 
cludes about  eighty  acres  of  flowers  and  foliage  plants. 

Modern  Lahore  is  much  more  interesting  than  the 
ancient  city.  The  European  quarter  covers  a  large  area. 
The  principal  street  is  three  miles  long,  shaded  with 
splendid  trees,  and  on  each  side  of  it  are  the  public  offices, 
churches,  schools,  hotels,  clubs  and  the  residences  of  rich 
people,  which  are  nearly  all  commodious  bungalows  sur- 
rounded by  groves  and  gardens.  The  native  city  is  a 
busy  bazaar,  densely  packed  with  gayly  dressed  types  of 
all  the  races  of  Asia,  and  is  full  of  dust,  filth  and  smells. 
But  the  people  are  interesting  and  the  colors  are  gay.  It 
is  sometimes  almost  impossible  to  pass  through  the 
crowds  that  fill  the  native  streets,  and  whoever  enters 
there  must  expect  to  be  jostled  sometimes  by  ugly-look- 
ing persons. 

The  fort  is  the  center  of  activity.  The  ancient  citadel 
has  been  adapted  to  modern  uses  and  conveniences  at  the 
expense  of  its  former  splendor.  The  palaces  and 
rposques,  the  baths  and  halls  of  audience  of  the  Moguls 
have  been  converted  into  barracks,  arsenals  and  store- 
rooms, and  their  decorations  have  been  covered  with 
whitewash.  The  only  object  of  interest  that  has  been  left 
is  an  armory  containing  a  fine  collection  of  ancient  Indian 
weapons.  But,  although  the  city  has  lost  its  medieval 
picturesqueness,  it  has  gained  in  utility,  and  has  become 
the  most  important  educational  and  industrial  center  of 
northern  India.    The  university  and  its  numerous  affili- 


KIM."    THK    CHELA,    AND    THE    OLD    LA^L\    WHO    SOUGHT 
THE     WAY    AM)    THK    TRl'TH     AND    THE     LIGHT 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  305 

ated  schools,  the  law  college,  the  college  of  oriental  lan- 
guages and  the  manual  training  school  are  all  well  attend- 
ed and  important,  and  the  school  of  art  and  industry  en- 
joys the  reputation  of  being  the  most  useful  and  the  best- 
managed  institution  of  the  kind  in  the  East,  probably  in 
all  Asia,  which  is  due  to  the  zeal  and  ability  of  J.  L.  Kip- 
ling, father  of  Rudyard  Kipling,  who  has  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  in  making  it  what  it  is.  He  was 
also  the  founder  of  the  museum  or  "Wonder-House,"  as 
the  natives  call  it.  It  has  the  finest  collection  of  Indian 
arts  and  industries  in  existence  except  that  in  South  Ken- 
sington Museum,  which  Mr.  Kipling  also  collected  and 
installed.  It  was  under  the  carriage  of  one  of  the  great 
old-fashioned  cannon  that  stand  in  front  of  this  museum 
that  "Kim"  first  encountered  the  aged  Llama,  and  Kip- 
ling's father  is  the  wise  man  who  kept  the  "Wonder- 
House"  and  gave  the  weary  pilgrim  the  knowledge  and 
encouragement  that  sustained  him  in  his  search  for  The 
Way. 

Rudyard  Kipling  was  born  in  Bombay,  where  his 
father  was  principal  of  an  art  school,  and  was  brought  to 
Lahore  when  he  was  a  child,  so  that  he  spent  most  of 
his  younger  life  there.  He  was  educated  at  the  Lahore 
schools  and  university  ;  he  served  for  several  years  as  a  re- 
porter of  the  Lahore  newspaper,  and  there  he  wrote  most 
of  his  short  stories.  "The  Plain  Tales  From  the  Hills" 
and  the  best  of  his  "Barrack-Room  Ballads"  were  in- 
spired by  his  youthful  association  with  the  large  military 
garrison  at  this  point.  Here  Danny  Deever  was  hanged 
for  killing  a  comrade  in  a  drunken  passion,  and  here 
Private  Mulvaney  developed  his  profound  philosophy. 

Lahore  is  the  principal  Protestant  missionary  center  of 
northern    India.      The   American    Presbyterians   are   the 


3o6  MODERN  INDIA 

oldest  in  point  of  time  and  the  strongest  in  point  of  num- 
bers. Tiiey  came  in  1849,  and  some  of  the  pioneers  are 
still  living.  They  have  schools  and  colleges,  a  theological 
seminary  and  other  institutions,  with  altogether  five  or 
six  thousand  students,  and  are  turning  out  battalions  of 
native  preachers  and  teachers  for  missionary  work  in 
other  parts  of  India.  The  American  Methodists  are  also 
strong  and  there  are  several  schools  maintained  by  Brit- 
ish societies.  Fifty  years  ago  there  was  not  a  native 
Christian  in  all  these  parts,  and  the  missionaries  had  to 
coax  children  into  their  schools  by  offering  inducements 
in  the  form  of  food  and  clothing.  Now  by  the  recent 
census  there  are  65,811  professing  Christians  in  the  Pun- 
jab province,  and  the  schools  and  native  churches  are 
nearly  all  self-supporting. 

Lahore  is  an  important  market  for  native  merchandise, 
and  the  distributing  point  for  imported  European  goods 
as  well  as  the  native  products,  while  Amritsar,  the  neigh- 
boring city,  is  the  manufacturing  center.  Here  come 
Cashmeris,  Nepalese,  Beluchis,  Afghans,  Persians,  Bok- 
harans,  Khivans,  Khokandes,  Turcomans,  Yarkandis, 
Cashgaris,  Thibetans,  Tartars,  Ghurkhars,  and  other 
strange  types  of  the  human  race  in  Asia,  each  wearing  his 
native  dress  and  bringing  upon  caravans  of  camels  and 
elephants  the  handiwork  of  his  neighbors.  The  great 
merchants  of  London,  Paris,  Vienna,  New  York  and  Chi- 
cago have  buyers  there  picking  up  curious  articles  of  na- 
tive handiwork  as  well  as  staples  like  shawls  from  Cash- 
mere and  rugs  and  carpets  from  Amritsar.  The  finest 
carpets  in  India  are  produced  at  Amristar,  and  between 
4.000  and  5,000  people  are  engaged  in  their  manufacture. 
These  operators  are  not  collected  in  factories  as  with  us, 
but  work  in  their  own  homes.    The  looms  are  usually  set 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  307 

up  in  the  doorways,  through  which  the  only  Hght  can 
enter  the  houses,  and  as  you  pass  up  and  down  the  streets 
you  see  women  and  men,  even  children,  at  work  at  the 
looms,  for  every  member  of  the  family  takes  a  turn.  As 
in  China,  Japan  and  other  oriental  countries,  arts  and  in- 
dustries are  hereditary.  Children  always  follow  the 
trades  of  their  parents,  and  all  work  is  done  in  the  house- 
holds. The  weavers  of  Amritsar  to-day  are  making  car- 
pets and  shawls  upon  the  same  looms  that  were  used  by 
their  great-grandfathers — yes,  their  progenitors  ten  and 
twenty  generations  back — and  are  weaving  the  same  pat- 
terns, and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  modern  chemical  dyes 
made  in  Paris,  the  United  States  and  Germany  are  taking 
the  place  of  the  primitive  native  methods  which  produced 
richer  and  permanent  colors. 

The  trade  is  handled  by  middlemen,  who  furnish  ma- 
terials to  the  weavers  and  pay  them  so  much  for  their 
labor  upon  each  piece.  The  average  earnings  seem  to  us 
ridiculously  small.  An  entire  family  does  not  receive 
more  than  $3  or  $4  a  month  while  engaged  in  producing 
shawls  that  are  sold  in  London  and  Paris  for  hundreds  of 
pounds  and  rugs  that  bring  hundreds  of  dollars,  but 
it  costs  them  little  to  live ;  their  wants  are  few,  they 
have  never  known  any  better  circumstances  and  are 
perfectly  contented.  The  middleman,  who  is  usually 
a  Persian  Jew,  makes  the  big  profit. 

Winter  is  not  a  good  time  for  visiting  northern  India. 
The  weather  is  too  cold  and  stormy.  The  roads  are  fre- 
quently obstructed  by  snow,  and  the  hotels  are  not  built 
to  keep  people  up  to  American  temperature.  We  could 
not  go  to  Cashmere  at  all,  although  it  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  provinces  of  the  empire,  because  the  roads 
were  blocked  and  bUzzards  were  lurking  about.    There  is 


3o8  MODERN  INDIA 

almost  universal  misapprehension  about  the  weather  in 
India.  It  is  certainly  a  winter  country ;  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  unacclimated  people  to  live  in  most  of  the 
provinces  between  March  and  November,  and  no  one  can 
visit  some  of  them  without  discomfort  from  the  heat  at 
any  season  of  the  year.  At  the  same  time  Cashmere  and 
the  Punjab  province  are  comfortable  no  later  than  Octo- 
ber and  no  earlier  than  May,  for,  although  the  sun  is 
bright  and  warm,  the  nights  are  intensely  cold,  and  the 
extremes  are  trying  to  strangers  who  are  not  accustomed 
to  them.  You  will  often  hear  people  who  have  traveled 
all  over  the  world  say  that  they  never  suflfered  so  much 
from  the  cold  as  in  India,  and  it  is  safe  to  believe  them. 
The  same  degree  of  cold  seems  colder  there  than  else- 
where, because  the  mercury  falls  so  rapidly  after  the  sun 
goes  down.  However,  India  is  so  vast,  and  the  climate 
and  the  elevations  are  so  varied,  that  you  can  spend  the 
entire  year  there  without  discomfort  if  you  migrate  with 
the  birds  and  follow  the  barometer.  There  are  plenty  of 
places  to  see  and  to  stay  in  the  summer  as  well  as  in  the 
winter. 

We  arrived  in  Bombay  on  the  12th  of  December, 
which  was  at  least  a  month  too  late.  It  would  have  been 
better  for  us  to  have  come  the  middle  of  October  and  gone 
immediately  north  into  the  Punjab  province  and  Cash- 
mere, where  we  would  have  been  comfortable.  But 
during  the  entire  winter  we  were  not  uncomfortably 
warm  anywhere,  and  even  in  Bombay,  which  is  consid- 
ered one  of  the  hottest  places  in  the  world,  and  during  the 
rainy  season  is  almost  intolerable,  we  slept  under  blankets 
every  night  and  carried  sun  umbrellas  in  the  daytime.  At 
Jeypore,  Agra,  Delhi  and  other  places  the  nights  were  as 
cold  as  they  ever  are  at  Washington,   double  blankets 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  309 

were  necessary  on  our  beds,  and  ordinary  overcoats  when 
we  went  out  of  doors  after  dark.  Sometimes  it  was  cold- 
er inside  the  house  than  outside,  and  in  several  of  the 
hotels  we  had  to  put  on  our  overcoats  and  wrap  our  legs 
up  in  steamer  rugs  to  keep  from  shivering.  At  the  same 
time  the  rays  of  the  sun  from  ii  to  3  or  4  in  the  after- 
noon were  intensely  hot,  and  often  seriously  affect  per- 
sons not  acclimated.  If  we  ever  go  to  India  again  we 
will  arrange  to  arrive  in  October  and  do  the  northern 
provinces  before  the  cold  weather  sets  in. 

It's  a  pity  we  could  not  go  to  Cashmere,  because  every- 
body told  us  it  is  such  an  interesting  place  and  so  differ- 
ent from  other  parts  of  India  and  the  rest  of  the  world. 
It  is  a  land  of  romance,  poetry  and  strange  pictures. 
Lalla  Rookh  and  other  fascinating  houris,  with  large 
brown  eyes,  pearly  teeth,  raven  tresses  and  ruby  lips, 
have  lived  there ;  it  is  the  home  of  the  Cashmere  bouquet, 
and  the  Vale  of  Cashmere  is  an  enchanted  land.  Average 
Americans  know  mighty  little  about  these  strange  coun- 
tries, and  it  takes  time  to  realize  that  they  actually  exist ; 
but  we  find  our  fellow  citizens  everywhere  we  go.  They 
outnumber  the  tourists  from  all  other  nations  combined. 

I  notice  that  the  official  reports  of  the  Indian  govern- 
ment give  the  name  as  "Kashmir,"  and,  like  every  other 
place  over  here,  it  is  spelled  a  dozen  different  ways,  but 
I  shall  stick  to  the  old-fashioned  spelling.  It  you  want  to 
know  something  about  it.  Cashmere  has  an  area  of  81,000 
square  miles,  a  population  of  2,905,578  by  the  census  of 
1901,  and  is  governed  by  a  maharaja  with  the  advice  of 
a  British  "resident,"  who  is  the  medium  of  communica- 
tion between  the  viceroy  and  the  local  officials.  The  ma- 
haraja is  allowed  to  do  about  as  he  pleases  as  long  as  he 
behaves  himself,  and  is  said  to  be  a  fairly  good  man. 


3IO  MODERN  INDIA 

The  people  are  peaceful  and  prosperous;  politics  is  very 
quiet ;  taxes  are  low ;  there  is  no  debt,  and  a  surplus  of 
more  than  $3,000,000  in  the  treasury,  which  is  an  unusual 
state  of  affairs  for  a  native  Indian  province.  The  exports 
have  increased  from  $1,990,000  in  1892  to  $4,465,000  in 
1902,  and  the  imports  from  $2,190,000  in  1892  to  $4,120,- 
000  in  1902.  The  country  has  its  own  coinage  and  is 
on  a  gold  basis.  The  manufacturing  industries  are  rap- 
idly developing,  although  the  lack  of  demand  for  Cash- 
mere shawls  has  been  a  severe  blow  to  local  weavers, 
who,  however,  have  turned  their  attention  to  carpets  and 
rugs  instead.  Wool  is  the  great  staple,  and  from  time 
immemorial  the  weavers  of  Cashmere  have  turned  out  the 
finest  woolen  fabrics  in  the  world.  They  have  suffered 
much  from  the  competition  of  machine-made  goods 
during  the  last  half-century  or  more,  and  have  been 
growing  careless  because  they  cannot  get  the  prices  that 
used  to  be  paid  for  the  finest  products.  In  ancient  times 
the  making  of  woolen  garments  was  considered  just  as 
much  of  an  art  in  Cashmere  as  painting  or  sculpture  in 
France  and  Germany,  porcelain  work  in  China  or  cloi- 
sonne work  in  Japan,  and  no  matter  how  long  a  weaver 
was  engaged  upon  a  garment,  he  was  sure  to  find  some- 
body with  sufficient  taste  and  money  to  buy  it.  But  now- 
adays, like  everybody  else  who  is  chasing  the  nimble 
shilling,  the  Cashmere  weavers  are  more  solicitous  about 
their  profits  than  about  their  patterns  and  the  fine  quality 
of  their  goods.  The  lapse  of  the  shawl  trade  has  caused 
the  government  to  encourage  the  introduction  of  the  silk 
industry.  A  British  expert  has  been  engaged  as  director 
of  sericulture,  seedlings  of  the  mulberry  tree  are  fur- 
nished to  villagers  and  farmers  free  of  cost,  and  all  co- 
coons are  purchased  by  the  state  at  good  prices.     The 


SIMLA  AND  THE  PUNJAB  311 

government  has  silk  factories  employing  between  6,000 
and  7,000  persons  under  the  instruction  of  French  and 
Swiss  weavers. 


XX 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES 

Famine  is  chronic  in  India,  It  has  occurred  at  inter- 
vals for  centuries  past,  as  long  as  records  have  been  kept, 
as  long  as  man  remembers,  and  undoubtedly  will  recur 
for  centuries  to  come,  although  the  authorities  who  are 
responsible  for  the  well-being  of  the  empire  are  gradually 
organizing  to  counteract  forces  of  nature  which  they  can- 
not control,  by  increasing  the  food  supply  and  providing 
means  for  its  distribution.  But  there  must  be  hunger  and 
starvation  in  India  so  long  as  the  population  remains  as 
dense  as  it  is.  The  reason  is  not  because  the  earth  re- 
fuses to  support  so  many  people.  There  is  yet  a  vast  area 
of  fertile  land  untilled,  and  the  fields  already  cultivated 
would  furnish  food  enough  for  a  larger  population  when 
normal  conditions  prevail,  although  there's  but  a  bare 
half  acre  per  capita.  There  is  always  enough  somewhere 
in  India  for  everybody  even  in  times  of  sorest  distress, 
but  it  is  not  distributed  equally,  and  those  who  are  short 
have  no  money  to  buy  and  bring  from  those  who  have  a 
surplus.  The  export  of  grain  and  other  products  from 
India  continues  regularly  in  the  lean  as  well  as  the  fat 
years,  but  the  country  is  so  large,  the  distances  so  great, 
the  facilities  for  transportation  so  inadequate,  that  one 
province  may  be  exporting  food  to  Europe  because  it  has 
to  spare,  while  another  province  may  be  receiving  ships 

312 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES       313 

loaded  with  charity  from  America  because  its  crops  have 
failed  and  its  people  are  hungry. 

The  health  and  happiness  of  three  hundred  million  hu- 
man souls  in  India  and  also  of  their  cattle,  their  oxen, 
their  sheep,  their  donkeys,  their  camels  and  their  ele- 
phants are  dependent  upon  certain  natural  phenomena 
over  which  neither  rajah  nor  maharaja,  nor  viceroy,  nor 
emperor,  nor  council  of  state  has  control,  and  before 
which  even  the  great  Mogul  on  his  bejeweled  throne 
stood  powerless.  It  is  possible  to  ameliorate  the  conse- 
quences, but  it  is  not  possible  to  prevent  them. 

Whether  the  crops  shall  be  fat  or  lean,  whether  the 
people  and  the  cattle  shall  be  fed  or  hungry,  depends 
upon  the  "monsoons,"  as  they  are  called,  alternating  cur- 
rents of  wind,  which  bring  rain  in  its  season.  All  animal 
and  vegetable  life  is  dependent  upon  them.  In  the  early 
summer  the  broad  plains  are  heated  by  the  sun  to  a  tem- 
perature higher  than  that  of  the  water  of  the  great  seas 
which  surround  them.  In  parts  of  northern  India, 
around  Delhi  and  Agra,  the  temperature  in  May  and 
June  is  higher  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  empire,  and 
is  exceeded  in  few  other  parts  of  the  world.  This  phe- 
nomenon remains  unexplained.  The  elevation  is  about 
2,100  feet  above  the  sea;  the  atmosphere  is  dry  and  the 
soil  is  sandy.  But  for  some  reason  the  rays  of  the  sun 
are  intensely  hot  and  are  fatal  to  those  who  are  exposed 
to  them  without  sufficient  protection.  But  this  extreme 
heat  is  the  salvation  of  the  country,  and  by  its  own  action 
brings  the  relief  without  which  all  animal  and  vegetable 
life  would  perish.  It  draws  from  the  ocean  a  current  of 
wind  laden  with  moisture  which  blows  steadily  for  two 
months  toward  the  northwest  and  causes  what  is  called 
the  rainy  season.  That  wind  is  called  the  southwest  mon- 


314  MODERN   INDIA 

soon.  The  quantity  of  rain  that  falls  depends  upon  the 
configuration  of  the  land.  Any  cause  which  cools  the 
winds  from  the  sea  and  leads  to  the  condensation  of  the 
vapor  they  carry — any  obstacle  which  blocks  their  course 
— causes  precipitation.  Through  all  the  northern  part  of 
India  there  is  a  heavy  rainfall  during  April,  May  and 
June,  the  earth  is  refreshed  and  quantities  of  water  are 
drained  into  reservoirs  called  "tanks,"  from  which  the 
fields  are  irrigated  later  in  the  summer. 

The  quantity  of  rainfall  diminishes  as  the  winds  blow 
over  the  foothills  and  the  mountains,  and  the  enormous 
heights  of  the  Himalayas  prevent  them  from  passing  their 
snow-clad  peaks  and  ridges.  Hence  the  tablelands  of 
Thibet,  which  lie  beyond,  are  the  dryest  and  the  most  arid 
region  in  the  world. 

As  the  sun  travels  south  after  midsummer  the  tempera- 
ture falls,  the  vast  dry  tract  of  the  Asiatic  continent  be- 
comes colder,  the  barometric  pressure  over  the  land  in- 
creases, and  the  winds  begin  to  blow  from  the  northeast, 
which  are  called  the  northeast  monsoon,  and  cause  a  sec- 
ond rainy  season  from  October  to  December.  These 
winds,  or  monsoons,  enable  the  farmers  of  India  to  grow 
two  crops,  and  they  are  entirely  dependent  upon  their 
regular  appearance. 

Over  80  per  cent  of  the  population  are  engaged  in 
farming.  They  live  from  hand  to  mouth.  They  have  no 
reserve  whatever.  If  the  monsoon  fails  nothing  will 
grow,  and  they  have  no  money  to  import  food  for  them- 
selves and  their  cattle  from  more  fortunate  sections. 
Hence  they  are  helpless.  As  a  rule  the  monsoons  are 
very  reliable,  but  every  few  years  they  fail,  and  a  famine 
results.  The  government  has  a  meteorological  depart- 
ment, with  observers  stationed  at  several  points  in  Africa 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES       315 

and  Arabia  and  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  to  record  and  re- 
port the  actions  of  nature.  Thus  it  has  been  able  of  late 
years  to  anticipate  the  fat  and  the  lean  harvests.  It  is 
possible  to  predict  almost  precisely  several  months  in 
advance  whether  there  will  be  a  failure  of  crops,  and  a 
permanent  famine  commission  has  been  organized  to 
prepare  measures  of  relief  before  they  are  needed.  In 
other  words,  Lord  Curzon  and  his  official  associates  are 
reducing  famine  relief  to  a  system  which  promotes  econ- 
omy as  well  as  efficiency. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  monsoon  currents 
which  cross  the  Indian  Ocean  from  South  Africa  con- 
tinue on  their  course  through  Australia  after  visiting 
India,  and  recent  famines  in  the  latter  country  have 
coincided  with  the  droughts  which  caused  much  injury 
to  stock  in  the  former.  Thus  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  both  countries  depend  upon  the  same  conditions  for 
their  rainfall,  except  that  human  beings  suffer  in  India 
while  only  sheep  die  of  hunger  in  the  Australian  colonies. 

The  worst  famine  ever  known  in  India  occurred  in 
1770,  when  Governor  General  Warren  Hastings  reported 
that  one-third  of  the  inhabitants  of  Bengal  perished  from 
hunger — ten  millions  out  of  thirty  millions.  The  streets 
of  Calcutta  and  other  towns  were  actually  blocked  up 
with  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  which  were  thrown  out  of 
doors  and  windows  because  there  was  no  means  or  op- 
portunity to  bury  them.  The  empire  has  been  stricken 
almost  as  hard  during  the  last  ten  years.  The  develop- 
ment of  civilization  seems  to  make  a  little  difference,  for 
the  famine  of  1900-1901  was  perhaps  second  in  severity 
to  that  of  1770.  This,  however,  was  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  population  had  not  had  time  to  recover  from 
the  famine  of  1896-97,  which  was  almost  as  severe,  al- 


3i6  MODERN   INDIA 

though  everything  possible  was  done  to  rcHeve  distress 
and  prevent  the  spread  of  plagues  and  pestilence  that  are 
the  natural  and  unavoidable  consequences  of  insufficient 
nourishment. 

No  precautions  that  sanitary  science  can  suggest  have 
been  omitted,  yet  the  weekly  reports  now  show  an  average 
of  twenty  thousand  deaths  from  the  bubonic  plague  alone. 
The  officials  explain  that  that  isn't  so  high  a  rate  as 
inexperienced  people  infer,  considering  that  the  popula- 
tion is  nearly  three  hundred  millions,  and  they  declare 
it  miraculous  that  it  is  not  larger,  because  the  Hindu 
portion  of  the  population  is  packed  so  densely  into  in- 
sanitary dwellings,  because  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
natives  have  sufficient  nourishment  to  meet  the  demands 
of  nature  and  are  constantly  exposed  to  influences  that 
produce  and  spread  disease.  The  death  rate  is  always 
very  high  in  India  for  these  reasons.  But  it  seems  very 
small  when  compared  with  the  awful  mortality  caused 
by  the  frequent  famines.  The  mind  almost  refuses  to 
accept  the  figures  that  are  presented ;  it  does  not  seem 
possible  in  the  present  age,  with  all  our  methods  for 
alleviating  suffering,  that  millions  of  people  can  actually 
die  of  hunger  in  a  land  of  railroads  and  steamships  and 
other  facilities  for  the  transportation  of  food.  It  seems 
beyond  comprehension,  yet  the  official  returns  justify  the 
acceptance  of  the  maximum  figures  reported. 

The  loss  of  human  life  from  starvation  in  British  India 
alone  during  the  famine  of  1900-1901  is  estimated  at 
1,236,855,  and  this  is  declared  to  be  the  minimum.  In  : 
country  of  the  area  of  India,  inhabited  by  a  superstitious, 
secretive  and  ignorant  population,  it  is  impossible  to  com- 
pel the  natives  to  report  accidents  and  deaths,  particularly 
among  the  Brahmins,  who  burn  instead  of  bury  their  dead. 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      317 

Those  who  know  best  assert  that  at  least  15  per  cent 
of  the  deaths  are  not  reported  in  times  of  famines  and 
epidemics.  And  the  enormous  estimate  I  have  given 
does  not  include  any  of  the  native  states,  which  have 
one-third  of  the  area  and  one-fourth  of  the  population 
of  the  empire.  In  some  of  them  sanitary  regulations 
are  observed,  and  statistics  are  accurately  reported.  In 
others  no  attempt  is  made  to  keep  a  registry  of  deaths, 
and  there  are  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  mortality, 
particularly  in  times  of  excitement.  In  these  little  prin- 
cipalities the  peasants  have,  comparatively  speaking,  no 
medical  attendance ;  they  are  dependent  upon  ignorant 
fakirs  and  sorcerers,  and  they  die  off  like  flies,  without 
even  leaving  a  record  of  their  disappearance.  Therefore 
the  only  way  of  ascertaining  the  mortality  of  those  sec- 
tions is  to  make  deductions  from  the  returns  of  the  census, 
which  is  taken  with  more  or  less  accuracy  every  ten  years. 

The  census  of  1901  tells  a  terrible  tale  of  human  suf- 
fering and  death  during  the  previous  decade,  which  was 
marked  by  two  famines  and  several  epidemics  of  cholera, 
smallpox  and  other  contagious  diseases.  Taking  the 
whole  of  India  together,  the  returns  show  that  during 
the  ten  years  from  1892  to  1901,  inclusive,  there  was  an 
increase  of  less  than  6,000,000  instead  of  the  normal  in- 
crease of  19,000,000,  which  was  to  be  expected,  judging 
by  the  records  of  the  previous  decades  of  the  country. 
More  than  10,000,000  people  disappeared  in  the  native 
states  alone  without  leaving  a  trace  behind  them. 

The  official  report  of  the  home  secretary  shows  that 
Baroda  State  lost  460,000,  or  19.23  per  cent  of  its  popu- 
lation. 

The  Rajputana  states  lost  2,175,000,  or  18.1  per  cent 
of  their  population. 


3i8  MODERN   INDIA 

The  central  states  lost  1,817,000,  or  17.5  per  cent. 

Bombay  Province  lost  1,168,000,  or  14.5  per  cent. 

The  central  provinces  lost  939,000,  or  8.71  per  cent. 

These  are  the  provinces  that  suffered  most  from  the 
famine,  and  therefore  show  the  largest  decrease  in  popu- 
lation. 

The  famine  of  1900-01  affected  an  area  of  more  than 
four  hundred  thousand  square  miles  and  a  population 
exceeding  sixty  millions,  of  whom  twenty-five  millions 
belong  in  the  provinces  of  British  India  and  thirty-five 
millions  to  the  native  states. 

"Within  this  area,"  Lord  Curzon  says,  "the  famine 
conditions  for  the  greater  part  of  a  year  were  intense. 
Outside  it  they  extended  with  a  gradually  dwindling 
radius  over  wide  districts  which  suffered  much  from  loss 
of  crops  and  cattle,  if  not  from  actual  scarcity.  In  a 
greater  or  less  degree  in  1900-01  nearly  one-fourth  of  the 
entire  population  of  the  Indian  continent  came  within  the 
range  of  relief  operations. 

"It  is  difficult  to  express  in  figures  with  any  close 
degree  of  accuracy  the  loss  occasioned  by  so  widespread 
and  severe  a  visitation.  But  it  may  be  roughly  put  in 
this  way :  The  annual  agricultural  product  of  India  aver- 
ages in  value  between  two  and  three  hundred  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  On  a  very  cautious  estimate  the  pro- 
duction in  1899-1900  must  have  been  at  least  one-quarter 
if  not  one-third  below  the  average.  At  normal  prices 
this  loss  was  at  least  fifty  million  pounds  sterling,  or,  in 
round  numbers,  two  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  in 
American  money.  But,  in  reality,  the  loss  fell  on  a 
portion  only  of  the  continent,  and  ranged  from  total 
failure  of  crops  in  certain  sections  to  a  loss  of  20  and  30 
per  cent  of  the  normal  crops  in  districts  which  are  not 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      319 

reckoned  as  falling  within  the  famine  tract.  If  to  this 
be  added  the  value  of  several  millions  of  cattle  and 
other  live  stock,  some  conception  may  be  formed  of  the 
destruction  of  property  which  that  great  drought  occa- 
sioned. There  have  been  many  great  droughts  in  India, 
but  there  have  been  no  others  of  which  such  figures  could 
have  been  predicated  as  these. 

"But  the  most  notable  feature  of  the  famine  of  1900-01 
was  the  liberality  of  the  public  and  the  government.  It 
has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  For  weeks 
more  than  six  million  persons  were  dependent  upon  the 
charity  of  the  government.  In  1897  the  high  water  mark 
of  relief  was  reached  in  the  second  fortnight  of  Alay, 
when  there  were  nearly  four  million  persons  receiving 
relief  in  British  India.  Taking  the  affected  population 
as  forty  millions,  the  ratio  of  relief  was  10  per  cent. 
In  one  district  of  Madras  and  in  two  districts  of  the 
northwestern  provinces  the  ratio  for  some  months  was 
about  30  per  cent,  but  these  were  exceptional  cases.  In 
the  most  distressed  districts  of  the  central  provinces  16  per 
cent  was  regarded  in  1896-7  as  a  very  high  standard  of 
relief.  Now  take  the  figures  of  1900-01.  For  some 
weeks  upward  of  four  and  a  half  million  persons  were 
receiving  food  from  the  government  in  British  India, 
and,  reckoned  on  a  population  of  twenty-five  millions, 
the  ratio  was  18  per  cent,  as  compared  with  10  per  cent 
of  the  population  in  1897.  In  many  districts  it  exceeded 
20  per  cent.  In  several  it  exceeded  30  per  cent.  In  two 
districts  it  exceeded  40  per  cent,  and  in  the  district  of 
Merwara,  where  famine  had  been  present  for  two  years, 
75  per  cent  of  the  population  were  dependent  upon  the 
government  for  food.  Nothing  I  could  say  can  intensify 
the  simple  eloquence  of  these  figures. 


320  MODERN  INDIA 

"The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  relieve  the  imme- 
diate distress,  to  feed  the  hungry,  to  rescue  those  who 
were  dying  of  starvation.  The  next  step  was  to  furnish 
employment  at  living  w^ages  for  those  who  were  penni- 
less until  we  could  help  them  to  get  upon  their  feet 
again,  and  finally  to  devise  means  and  methods  to  meet 
such  emergencies  in  the  future,  because  famines  are  the 
fate  of  India  and  must  continue  to  recur  under  existing 
conditions. 

"I  should  like  to  tell  you  of  the  courage,  endurance  and 
the  devotion  of  the  men  who  distributed  the  relief,  many 
of  whom  died  at  their  posts  of  duty  as  bravely  and  as 
uncomplainingly  as  they  might  have  died  upon  the  field 
of  battle.  The  world  will  never  know  the  extent  and 
the  number  of  sacrifices  made  by  British  and  native 
officials.  The  government  alone  expended  $32,000,000 
for  food,  while  the  amount  disbursed  by  the  native  states, 
by  religious  and  private  charities,  was  very  large.  The 
contributions  from  abroad  were  about  $3,000,000,  and 
the  government  loaned  the  farmers  more  than  $20,000,000 
to  buy  seed  and  cattle  and  put  in  new  crops. 

"So  far  as  the  official  figures  are  concerned,  the  total 
cost  of  the  famine  of  1900  was  as  follows: 

BRITISH     INDIA 

Direct  relief $31,950,000 

Loss  of  revenue  16,200,000 

Loans  to  farmers  and  native  states 21,300,000 

NATIVE    STATES 

Relief  expenditure  and  loss  of  revenue....     22,500,000 


Total $91,950,000 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      321 

"Some  part  of  these  loans  and  advances  will  eventually 
be  repaid.  But  it  is  not  a  new  thing  for  the  government 
of  India  to  relieve  its  people  in  times  of  distress.  The 
frequent  famines  have  been  an  enormous  drain  upon  the 
resources  of  the  empire." 

The  following  table  shows  the  expenditures  for 
famine  relief  by  the  imperial  government  of  India  during 
the  last  twenty-one  years: 

Five  years,   1881-86 $  25,573,885 

Five  years,  1886-91 11,449,190 

Five  years,   1891-96 21,631,900 

1896-1897 8,550,705 

1897-1898 19.053.575 

1898-1899 5,000,000 

1899-1900 10,642,235 

1900-1901 20,829,335 

1901-1902 5,000,000 


Total    (twenty-one   years) $127,730,825 

Among  the  principal  items  chargeable  to  famine  re- 
lief, direct  and  indirect,  are  the  wages  paid  dependent 
persons  employed  during  famines  in  the  construction  of 
railways  and  irrigation  works,  which,  during  the  last 
twenty-one   years,  have  been  as   follows : 

Construction 
Direct  fam-  Construction  of  irrigation 

ine  relief.  of  railways.  works. 

Five  years,  '81 -'86  $   379,760  $9,113,165  $3,739-790 

1 886- 1 89 1 277,030  666,665  1,384,570 

1891-1896 411,065  12,056,505  921,675 

1896-1897 6,931,750  156,100 

1897-1898 17,752,025  125,055 


322  MODERN   INDIA 

1898-1899 133.515  2.301,175  38,900 

1899-1900 10,375,590     119,650 

1900-1901 20,626,150     155.570 

1901-1902 2,645,905     35346.5 

Total  (21  years)  $59,531,790    $24,137,610    $6,994,775 

The  chief  remedies  which  the  government  has  been 
endeavoring  to  apply  are : 

1.  To  extend  the  cultivated  area  by  building  irriga- 
tion works  and  scattering  the  people  over  territory  that 
is  not  now  occupied. 

2.  To  construct  railways  and  other  transportation 
facilities  for  the  distribution  of  food.  This  work  has 
been  pushed  with  great  energy,  and  during  the  last  ten 
years  the  railway  mileage  has  been  increased  nearly  50 
per  cent  to  a  total  of  more  than  26,000  miles.  About 
2,000  miles  are  now  under  construction  and  approaching 
completion,  and  fresh  projects  will  be  taken  up  and 
pushed  so  that  food  may  be  distributed  throughout  the 
empire  as  rapidly  as  possible  in  time  of  emergency.  Rail- 
way construction  has  also  been  one  of  the  chief  methods 
of  relief.  During  the  recent  famine,  and  that  of  1897, 
millions  of  coolies,  who  could  find  no  other  employment, 
were  engaged  at  living  wages  upon  various  public  works. 
This  was  considered  better  than  giving  them  direct  re- 
lief, which  was  avoided  as  far  as  possible  so  that  they 
should  not  acquire  the  habit  of  depending  upon  charity. 
And  as  a  part  of  the  permanent  famine  relief  system  for 
future  emergencies,  the  board  of  public  works  has  laid 
out  a  scheme  of  roads  and  the  department  of  agriculture  a 
system  of  irrigation  upon  which  the  unemployed  labor 
can  be  mobilized  at  short  notice,  and  funds  have  been 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      3^3 

set  apart  for  the  payment  of  their  wages.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  comprehensive  schemes  of  charity  ever  con- 
ceived, and  must  commend  to  every  mind  the  wisdom, 
foresight  and  benevolence  of  the  Indian  government, 
which,  with  the  experience  with  a  dozen  famines,  has 
found  that  its  greatest  diffculty  has  been  to  reheve  the 
distressed  and  feed  the  hungry  without  making  perma- 
nent paupers  of  them.  Every  feature  of  famine  reHef 
nowadays  involves  the  employment  of  the  needy  and 
rejects  the  free  distribution  of  food. 

3.  The  government  is  doing  everything  possible  to 
encourage  the  diversification  of  labor,  to  draw  people 
from  the  farms  and  employ  them  in  other  industries. 
This  requires  a  great  deal  of  time,  because  it  depends 
upon  private  enterprise,  but  during  the  last  ten  years 
there  has  been  a  notable  increase  in  the  number  of  me- 
chanical industries  and  the  number  of  people  employed 
by  them,  which  it  is  believed  will  continue  because  of  the 
profits  that  have  been  realized  by  investors. 

4.  The  government  is  also  making  special  efforts  to 
develop  the  dormant  resources  of  the  empire.  There  has 
been  a  notable  increase  in  mining,  lumbering,  fishing, 
and  other  outside  industries  which  have  not  received  the 
attention  they  deserved  by  the  people  of  India;  and, 
finally, 

5.  The  influence  of  the  government  has  also  been 
exerted  so  far  as  could  be  to  the  encouragement  of  habits 
of  thrift  among  the  people  by  the  establishment  of  postal 
savings  banks  and  other  inducements  for  wage-earners 
to  save  their  money.  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  population 
of  India  lives  from  hand  to  mouth  and  depends  for  sus- 
tenance upon  the  crops  raised  upon  little  patches  of 
ground  which  in  America  would  be  too  insignificant  for 


324  MODERN  INDIA 

consideration.  There  is  very  seldom  a  surplus.  The 
ordinary  Hindu  never  gets  ahead,  and,  therefore,  when 
his  little  crop  fails  he  is  helpless. 

The  munificence  of  Mr.  Henry  Phipps  of  New  Yorjc 
has  enabled  the  government  of  India  to  provide  one  of 
the  preventives  of  famine  by  educating  the  people  in 
agricultural  science.  A  college,  an  experimental  farm  and 
research  laboratory  have  been  established  on  the  govern- 
ment estate  of  Pusa,  in  southern  Bengal,  a  tract  of  1,280 
acres,  which  has  been  used  since  1874  as  a  breeding 
ranch,  a  tobacco  experimental  farm  and  a  model  dairy. 
No  country  has  needed  such  an  institution  more  than 
India,  where  80  per  cent  of  the  population  are  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits,  and  most  of  them  with  primitive 
implements  and  methods.  But  the  conservatism  and  the 
illiteracy,  the  prejudices  and  the  ignorance  of  the  natives 
make  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  introduce  innovations, 
and  it  is  the  conviction  of  those  best  qualified  to  speak 
that  the  only  way  of  improving  the  condition  of  the 
farmer  classes  is  to  begin  at  the  top  and  work  down  by 
the  force  of  example.  During  a  recent  visit  to  India  this 
became  apparent  to  Mr.  Phipps,  who  is  eminently  a  prac- 
tical man,  and  has  been  in  the  habit  of  dealing  with  in- 
dustrial questions  all  of  his  life.  He  was  brought  up  in 
the  Carnegie  iron  mills,  became  a  superintendent,  a  mana- 
ger and  a  partner,  and,  when  the  company  went  into  the 
great  trust,  retired  from  active  participation  in  its  man- 
agement with  an  immense  fortune.  He  has  built  a  beau- 
tiful house  in  New  York,  has  leased  an  estate  in  Scot- 
land, where  his  ancestors  came  from,  and  has  been  spend- 
ing a  vacation,  earned  by  forty  years  of  hard  labor,  in 
traveling  about  the  world.  His  visit  to  India  brought 
him  into  a  friendly  acquaintance  with  Lord  Curzon,  in 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      325 

whom  he  found  a  congenial  spirit,  and  doubtless  the 
viceroy  received  from  the  practical  common  sense  of  Mr. 
Phipps  many  suggestions  that  will  be  valuable  to  him  in 
the  administration  of  the  government,  and  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  frequent  problems  that  perplex  him.  Mr. 
Phipps,  on  the  other  hand,  had  his  sympathy  and  interest 
excited  in  the  industrial  conditions  of  India,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  famine  phenomena.  He  therefore  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  Lord  Curzon  the  sum  of  $100,000,  to 
which  he  has  since  added  $50,000,  to  be  devoted  to  what- 
ever object  of  public  utility  in  the  direction  of  scientific 
research  the  viceroy  might  consider  most  useful  and  ex- 
pedient. In  accepting  this  generous  oflfer  it  appeared  to 
His  Excellency  that  no  more  practical  or  useful  object 
could  be  found  to  which  to  devote  the  gift,  nor  one  more 
entirely  in  harmony  with  the  wishes  of  the  donor,  than 
the  establishment  of  a  laboratory  for  agricultural  re- 
search, and  Mr.  Phipps  has  expressed  his  warm  approval 
of  the  decision. 

It  is  proposed  to  place  the  college  upon  a  higher  grade 
than  has  ever  been  reached  by  any  agricultural  school  in 
India,  not  only  to  provide  for  a  reform  of  the  agricultural 
methods  of  the  country,  but  also  to  serve  as  a  model  for 
and  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  provincial  schools,  be- 
cause at  none  of  them  are  there  arrangements  for  a  com- 
plete or  competent  agricultural  education.  It  is  proposed 
to  have  a  course  of  five  years  for  the  training  of  teachers 
for  other  institutions  and  the  specialists  needed  in  the 
various  branches  of  science  connected  with  the  agricul- 
tural department,  who  are  now  imported  from  Europe. 
The  necessity  for  such  an  education.  Lord  Curzon  says, 
is  constantly  becoming  more  and  more  imperative.  The 
higher  officials  of  the  government  have  long  realized  that 


326  MODERN   IXDIA 

there  should  be  some  institution  in  India  where  they  can 
train  the  men  they  require,  if  their  scheme  of  agricul- 
tural reformation  is  ever  to  be  placed  upon  a  practical 
basis  and  made  an  actual  success.  For  those  who  wish 
to  qualify  for  professorships  or  for  research  work,  or 
for  ofiicial  positions  requiring  special  scientific  attain- 
ments, it  is  believed  that  a  five  years'  course  is  none  too 
long.  But  for  young  men  who  desire  only  to  train  them- 
selves for  the  management  of  their  own  estates  or  the 
estates  of  others,  a  three  years'  course  will  be  provided, 
with  practical  work  upon  the  farm  and  in  the  stable. 

The  government  has  solved  successfully  several  of  the 
irrigation  problems  now  under  investigation  by  the  Agri- 
cultural Department  and  the  Geological  Survey  of  the 
United  States.  The  most  successful  public  works  of  that 
nature  are  in  the  northern  part  of  the  empire.  The 
facilities  for  irrigation  in  India  are  quite  as  varied  as 
in  the  United  States,  the  topography  being  similar  and 
equally  diverse.  In  the  north  the  water  supply  comes 
from  the  melting  snows  of  the  Himalayas ;  in  the  east 
and  west  from  the  great  river  systems  of  the  Ganges 
and  the  Indus,  while  in  the  central  and  southern  portions 
the  farmers  are  dependent  upon  tanks  or  reservoirs  into 
which  the  rainfall  is  drained  and  kept  in  store  until 
needed.  In  several  sections  the  rainfall  is  so  abundant 
as  to  aflford  a  supply  of  water  for  the  tanks  which  sur- 
passes in  constancy  and  volume  that  from  any  of  the 
rivers.  In  Bombay  and  Madras  provinces  almost  all  of 
the  irrigation  systems  are  dependent  upon  this  method. 
In  the  river  provinces  are  many  canals  which  act  as  dis- 
tributaries during  the  spring  overflow,  carry  the  water 
a  long  distance  and  distribute  it  over  a  large  area  during 
the  periods  of  inundation.     In  several  places  the  use- 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      327 

fulness  of  these  canals  has  been  increased  by  the  con- 
struction of  reservoirs  which  receive  and  hold  the  floods 
upon  the  plan  proposed  for  some  of  our  arid  states. 

In  India  the  water  supply  is  almost  entirely  controlled 
by  the  government.  There  are  some  private  enterprises, 
but  most  of  them  are  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  land 
owned  by  the  projectors.  A  few  companies  sell  water  to 
the  adjacent  farmers  on  the  same  plan  as  that  prevailing 
in  California,  Colorado  and  other  of  our  states.  But  the 
government  of  India  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of 
national  ownership  and  control,  and  derives  a  large  and 
regular  revenue  therefrom.  In  the  classification  adopted 
by  the  department  of  public  works  the  undertakings  are 
designated  as  "major"  and  "minor"  classes.  ^  The 
"major"  class  includes  all  extensive  works  which  have 
been  built  by  government  money,  and  are  maintained 
under  government  supervision.  Some  of  them,  classed 
as  "famine  protective  works,"  were  constructed  with  relief 
funds  during  seasons  of  famine  in  order  to  furnish  work 
and  wages  to  the  unemployed,  and  at  the  same  time  pro- 
vide a  certain  supply  of  water  for  sections  of  the  coun- 
try exposed  to  drought.  The  "minor"  works  are  of  less 
extent,  and  have  been  constructed  from  time  to  time  to 
assist  private  enterprise. 

The  financial  history  of  the  public  irrigation  works  of 
India  will  be  particularly  interesting  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  because  our  government  is  just  entering 
upon  a  similar  policy.  The  following  statement  is 
brought  down  to  December  31,  1902: 

Cost  of  construction $125,005,705 

Receipts  from  water  rates  (1902) 7)797>890 

Receipts  from  land  taxes  (1902) 4,066,985 


328  MODERN   INDIA 

Total  revenue  from  all  sources  (1902) 1 1,864,875 

Working  expenses   ( 1902) 3,509,600 

Net  revenue  ( 1902) 8,355,275 

Interest  on   capital   invested 4,720,615- 

Net  revenue,  deducting  interest 3,634,660 

Profit  on  capital  invested,  per  cent 6.97 

Net  profit  to  the  government,  per  cent 3.04 

In  addition  to  this  revenue  from  the  "major"  irrigation 
w^orks  belonging  to  the  government,  the  net  receipts  from 
"minor"  works  during  the  year  1902  amounted  to 
$864,360  in  American  money. 

In  other  words,  the  government  of  India  has  invested 
about  $125,000,000  in  reservoirs,  canals,  dams  and  ditches 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  regular  crops  for  the  farmers 
of  that  empire  who  are  exposed  to  drought,  and  not  only 
has  accomplished  that  purpose,  but,  after  deducting  y/2 
per  cent  as  interest  upon  the  amount  named,  enjoys  a  net 
profit  of  more  than  $3,500,000  after  the  payment  of  run- 
ning expenses  and  repairs.  These  profits  are  regularly 
expended  in  the  extension  of  irrigation  works. 

In  the  Sinde  province,  which  is  the  extreme  western 
section  of  India,  adjoining  the  colony  of  Beluchistan  on 
the  Arabian  Sea,  there  are  about  12,500,000  acres  of  land 
fit  for  cultivation.  Of  this  a  little  more  than  9,000,000 
acres  are  under  cultivation,  irrigated  with  water  from  the 
Indus  River,  and  the  government  system  reaches 
3,077,466  acres.  Up  to  December  31,  1902,  it  had  ex- 
pended $8,830,000  in  construction  and  repairs,  and  dur- 
ing that  year  received  a  net  revenue  of  8.5  per  cent  upon 
that  amount  over  and  above  interest  and  running 
expenses. 

In  Madras  6,884,554  acres  have  been  irrigated  by  the 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      329 

government  works  at  a  cost  of  $24,975,000.  In  1902 
they  paid  an  average  net  revenue  of  9.5  per  cent  upon  the 
investment,  and  the  vahie  of  the  crops  grown  upon  the 
irrigated  land  was  $36,663,000. 

In  the  united  provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudh  in  northern 
India  the  supply  of  water  from  the  Himalayas  is  dis- 
tributed through  12,919  miles  of  canals  belonging  to  the 
government,  constructed  at  a  cost  of  $28,625,000,  which 
irrigates  2,741,460  acres.  In  1902  the  value  of  the  crops 
harvested  upon  this  land  was  $28,336,005,  and  the  gov- 
ernment received  a  net  return  of  6.15  per  cent  upon  the 
investment.  The  revenue  varies  in  different  parts  of  the 
provinces.  One  system  known  as  the  Eastern  Jumna 
Canal,  near  Lucknow,  paid  23  per  cent  upon  its  cost  in 
water  rents  during  that  year.  In  other  parts  of  the 
province,  where  the  construction  was  much  more  expen- 
sive, the  receipts  fell  as  low  as  2.12  per  cent. 

In  the  Punjab  province,  the  extreme  northwestern  cor- 
ner of  India,  adjoining  Afghanistan  on  the  west  and 
Cashmere  on  the  east,  where  the  water  supply  comes 
from  the  melting  snows  of  the  Himalayas,  the  govern- 
ment receives  a  net  profit  of  10.83  per  cent,  and  the  value 
of  the  crop  in  the  single  year  of  1902  was  one  and  one- 
fourth  times  the  total  amount  invested  in  the  works  to 
date. 

This  does  not  include  a  vast  undertaking  known  as 
the  Chenab  Canal,  which  has  recently  been  completed, 
and  now  supplies  more  than  2,000,000  acres  with  water. 
Its  possibilities  include  5,527,000  acres.  As  a  combina- 
tion of  business  and  benevolence  and  as  an  exhibition 
of  administrative  energy  and  wisdom,  it  is  remarkable, 
and  is  of  especial  interest  to  the  people  of  the  United 


330  MODERN  INDIA 

States  because  the  conditions  arc  similar  to  those  existing 
in  our  own  arid  states  and  territories. 

If  you  will  take  a  map  of  India  and  run  your  eye  up  to 
the  northwestern  corner  you  will  see  a  large  bald  spot 
just  south  of  the  frontier  through  which  runs  the  river 
Chenab  (or  Chenaub) — the  name  of  the  stream  is  spelt  a 
dozen  different  ways,  like  every  other  geographical  name 
in  India.  This  river,  which  is  a  roaring  torrent  during 
the  rainy  season  and  as  dry  as  a  bone  for  six  months  in 
the  year,  resembles  several  of  our  western  rivers,  par- 
ticularly the  North  Platte,  and  runs  through  an  immense 
tract  of  arid  desert  similar  to  those  found  in  our  moun- 
tain states.  This  desert  is  known  as  the  Rechna  Doab, 
and  until  recently  was  waste  government  land,  a  barren, 
lifeless  tract  upon  which  nothing  but  snakes  and  lizards 
could  exist,  although  the  soil  is  heavily  charged  with 
chemicals  of  the  most  nutritious  character  for  plants, 
and  when  watered  yields  enormous  crops  of  wheat  and 
other  cereals.  Fifteen  years  ago  it  was  absolutely  unin- 
habited. To-day  it  is  the  home  of  about  800,000  happy 
and  prosperous  people,  working  more  than  200,000  farms, 
in  tracts  of  from  five  to  fifty  acres.  The  average  popula- 
tion of  the  territory  disclosed  at  the  census  of  1901  was 
212  per  square  mile,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  extension 
of  the  water  supply  and  natural  development  will  largely 
increase  this  average. 

The  colony  has  been  in  operation  for  a  little  more  than 
eleven  years.  The  colonists  were  drawn  chiefly  from  the 
more  densely  populated  districts  of  the  Punjab  province, 
and  were  attracted  by  a  series  of  remarkable  harvests, 
which  were  sold  at  exorbitant  prices  during  the  famine 
years.  The  land  was  given  away  by  the  government  to 
actual  settlers  upon  a  plan  similar  to  that  of  our  home- 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      331 

stead  act,  the  settlers  being  given  a  guarantee  of  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  water  per  acre  to  a  fixed  price.  The 
demand  caused  by  the  popularity  of  the  colony  has  al- 
ready exhausted  the  entire  area  watered  by  the  canals, 
but  an  extension  and  enlargement  of  the  system  will  bring 
more  land  gradually  under  cultivation,  the  estimates  of 
the  engineers  contemplating  an  addition  of  2,000,000 
acres  within  the  next  few  years. 

The  value  of  the  crop  produced  in  1902  upon  1,830,525 
acres  of  irrigated  land  in  this  colony  was  $16,845,000, 
irrigated  by  canals  that  cost  $8,628,380,  and  the  gov- 
ernment enjoyed  a  net  profit  of  14.01  per  cent  that  year 
upon  its  benevolent  enterprise.  Aside  from  the  money 
value  of  the  scheme,  there  is  another  very  important  con- 
sideration. More  than  half  of  the  canals  and  ditches 
were  constructed  by  "famine  labor" — that  is,  by  men  and 
women  (for  women  do  manual  labor  in  India  the  same 
as  men)  who  were  unable  to  obtain  other  employment 
and  would  have  died  of  starvation  but  for  the  intervention 
of  the  government.  Instead  of  being  supplied  with  food 
at  relief  stations,  these  starving  people  were  shipped  to 
the  Rechan  Doab  Desert  and  put  to  work  at  minimum 
wages. 

You  will  agree  with  me  that  the  government  has  a 
right  to  feel  proud  of  its  new  colony,  and  its  success  has 
stimulated  interest  in  similar  enterprises  in  other  parts 
of  the  empire.  It  has  not  only  furnished  employment 
to  thousands  of  starving  people,  but  by  bringing  under 
cultivation  a  large  tract  of  barren  land  with  a  positive 
certainty  of  regular  harvests  it  has  practically  insured 
that  section  of  the  country  against  future  famines. 

The  following  figures  will  show  the  rapid  development 
of  the  colony  from  the  first  season  of  1892-93  to  the  end 


332  MODERN   INDIA 

of  the  season   1901,  which  is  the  latest  date  for  which 
statistics  can  be  obtained : 

CAPITAL    OUTLAY    TO    END    OF    YF.AR 

;[892-93 i   721,233     1897-98 £1,512,916 

1893-94 878,034     1898-99 1 ,616,676 

1894-95 995,932    I899-I900 1,677,982 

1895-96 1,174,781  1900-01 1,725,676 

1896-97 1,362,075 

ACRES    IRRIGATED    DURING    THE    YEAR 

1892-93 157,197  1897-98 810,000 

1893-94 270,405  1898-99 957705 

1894-95 269,357  1899-I9OO 1,353-223 

1895-96 369,935  1900-01 1,830,525 

1896-97 520,279 

NET     REVENUE     DURING     THE     YEAR 

1892-93 i  4,084  1897-98 £111,041 

1893-94 3,552  1898-99 131,566 

1894-95 9,511  1899-I9OO 155.302 

1895-96 51,632  1900-01 421,812 

1896-97 92,629 

RETURN   ON   CAPITAL  OUTLAY,    PER  CENT 

1892-93 0.57  1897-98 7.34 

1893-94 0.40  1898-99 8.14 

1894-95 0.96  I899-I9OO 9.26 

1895-96 4.40  1900-01 14.01 

1896-97 6.75 

The  system  of  allotment  of  land  may  be  interesting. 
As  the  area  under  irrigation  was  entirely  open  and  un- 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      333 

occupied,  few  difficulties  were  met  with,  and  the  en- 
gineers were  perfectly  free  in  plotting  the  land.  The 
entire  area  was  divided  into  squares  of  1,000  feet  bound- 
ary on  each  side,  and  these  squares  were  each  divided 
into  twenty-five  fields  which  measure  about  one  acre 
and  are  the  unit  of  calculation  in  sales  and  in  measuring 
water.  Sixty  squares,  or  1,500  fields,  compose  a  village, 
and  between  the  villages,  surrounding  them  on  all  four 
sides,  are  canals.  Between  the  squares  are  ditches,  and 
between  the  fields  are  smaller  ditches,  so  that  the  water 
can  be  measured  and  the  allowance  made  without  diffi- 
culty. The  government  sells  no  smaller  piece  than  a 
field  of  twenty-five  acres,  but  purchasers  can  buy  in 
partnership  and  afterwards  subdivide  it. 

Each  village  is  under  the  charge  of  a  superintendent, 
or  resident  engineer,  who  is  responsible  to  a  superior  en- 
gineer, who  has  charge  of  a  number  of  villages.  Each  field 
is  numbered  upon  a  map,  and  a  record  is  kept  of  the  area 
cultivated,  the  character  of  the  crops  sown,  the  dates  of 
irrigation  and  the  amount  of  water  allowed.  Before 
harvest  a  new  measurement  is  taken  and  a  bill  is  given  to 
the  cultivator  showing  the  amount  of  his  assessment, 
which  is  collected  when  his  crop  is  harvested.  As  there 
has  never  been  a  crop  failure,  this  is  a  simple  process, 
and  in  addition  to  the  water  rate  a  land  tax  of  42  cents 
an  acre  is  collected  at  the  same  time  and  paid  into  the 
treasury  to  the  credit  of  the  revenue  department,  while 
the  water  rates  are  credited  to  the  canal  department. 

The  chief  engineer  fixes  the  volume  of  water  to  be 
furnished  to  each  village  and  the  period  for  which  it  is 
to  remain  flowing.  The  local  superintendent  regulates 
the  amount  allowed  each  cultivator,  according  to  the  crops 
he  has  planted.     There  are  six  rates,  regulated  by  the 


334  MODERN   INDIA 

crop's,  for  some  need  more  water  than  others,  as  follows : 

Class.     Crops.  Rate  per  acre. 

I — Sugar  cane $2.50 

2— Rice 2.10 

3 — Orchards,  gardens,  tobacco,  indigo,  vegetables 

and  melons    i .  66 

4 — Cotton,   oil   seeds,    Indian   corn    and    all    cold 

weather  crops,  except  grain  and  lentils 1.66 

5 — All  crops  other  than  specified  above 83 

6 — Single  water  to  plow,  not  followed  by  a  crop. .       .40 

As  I  have  shown  you  from  the  figures  above,  this  en- 
terprise has  proved  highly  profitable  to  the  government, 
and  its  management  is  entitled  to  the  highest  compliments. 

The  main  canal  was  originally  forty  miles  long,  aver- 
aging 109  feet  wide,  with  an  average  slope  of  one  foot 
to  the  mile,  and  capable  of  carrying  seven  feet  four 
inches  of  water,  or  10,000  cubic  feet,  per  second.  Twenty- 
eight  miles  have  since  been  enlarged  to  a  width  of  250 
feet  and  the  remaining  twelve  miles  to  a  width  of  150 
feet.  The  canal  has  been  deepened  to  nine  feet  six  inches, 
and  the  intention  is  to  deepen  it  one  foot  more.  The 
banks  of  the  main  canal  are  twenty-five  feet  wide  at  the 
top  and  are  built  entirely  of  earth.  A  railway  ninety-six 
miles  long  of  three-foot  gauge  has  been  constructed  down 
the  main  canal,  which  is  a  great  convenience  in  shipping 
crops  and  pays  a  profit  to  the  government.  It  was  con- 
structed by  the  canal  engineers  while  the  ditch  was  being 
dug.  There  are  390  miles  of  branch  canals  from  thirty  to 
fifty  feet  wide  and  from  six  to  eight  feet  deep,  and  2,095 
miles  of  distributaries,  or  ditches  running  between  vil- 
lages and  squares.  The  banks  of  the  branches  and 
ditches  are  all  wide  enough  for  highways,  and  thus  en- 


FAMINES  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES      335 

able  the  people  to  go  from  village  to  village  and  get  their 
crops  to  market.  Several  towns  of  considerable  size 
have  already  grown  up ;  the  largest,  called  Lyallpur, 
having  about  10,000  inhabitants.  It  is  the  headquarters 
of  the  canal  and  also  of  the  civil  authorities ;  and  scat- 
tered through  the  irrigated  country  are  about  100  per- 
manent houses  used  as  residences  and  offices  by  the 
superintendents  and  engineers. 


XXI 

THE    FRONTIER    QUESTION 

The  most  sensitive  nerve  in  the  British  Empire  ter- 
minates in  Afghanistan,  and  the  ghost  of  the  czar  is 
always  dancing  about  the  Khyber  Pass,  through  which 
caravans  laden  with  merchandise  find  their  way  across  the 
mountains  between  India  and  the  countries  of  Central 
Asia.  Every  time  there  is  a  stir  in  a  clump  of  bushes, 
every  time  a  board  creaks  in  the  floor,  every  time  a  foot- 
step is  heard  under  the  window,  the  goose  flesh  rises  on 
John  Bull's  back,  and  he  imagines  that  the  Great  White 
Bear  is  smelling  around  the  back  door  of  his  empire  in 
India.  Peshawur  is  the  jumping-oiT  place  of  the  North- 
west, the  limit  of  British  authority,  the  terminus  of  the 
railway  system  of  India  and  the  great  gateway  between 
that  empire  and  Central  Asia,  through  which  every- 
thing must  pass.  It  is  to  the  interior  of  Asia  what  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  are  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and 
the  Dardanelles  to  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas.  While 
there  are  300  paths  over  the  mountains  in  other  direc- 
tions, and  it  might  be  possible  to  cross  them  with  an  army, 
it  has  never  been  attempted  and  would  involve  dangers, 
expense  and  delays  which  no  nation  would  undertake. 
The  Khyber  Pass  has  been  the  great  and  only  route  for 
ages  whether  for  war  or  commerce.  The  masters  of 
Central  Asia,  whether  Persians,  Greeks,  Macedonians  or 
Assyrians,  have  held  it.     Alexander  the  Great  crossed  it 

336 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  337 

with  his  army.  Timour  the  Tartar,  whom  we  know 
better  as  Tamerlane,  came  through  upon  his  all-conquer- 
ing expedition  when  he  subdued  India  to  found  the  Mogul 
Empire,  and  if  the  Russians  ever  enter  India  by  land 
they  will  come  this  way. 

The  pass  is  reached  by  crossing  a  stony  plain  ten  miles 
from  Peshawur,  and  winds  through  gorges  and  crevices 
in  the  mountains  for  thirty-three  miles  at  an  altitude 
averaging  7,000  feet  above  the  sea.  At  one  point  the 
mountains  close  in  to  about  500  feet  apart  and  the  rocks 
rise  in  sheer  precipices  on  either  side ;  in  other  places  the 
gorge  widens  to  a  mile  or  more  and  will  average  perhaps 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  the  entire  distance.  It  is  a 
remarkable  gateway,  a  natural  barrier  between  hereditary 
enemies  and  easily  defended  from  either  side.  Kabul, 
the  capital  of  Afghanistan,  is  180  miles  from  the  western 
entrance  to  the  defile. 

The  British  fortifications  are  at  Jamrud,  nine  miles 
from  Peshawur,  and  the  terminus  of  the  railways,  where 
a  strong  garrison  is  always  kept.  The  pass  itself  is  con- 
trolled by  a  powerful  semi-independent  native  tribe  called 
the  Afridis,  estimated  at  20,000  strong,  who  receive  sub- 
sidies from  the  British  government  and  from  the  Ameer  of 
Afghanistan  to  keep  them  good-natured  on  the  pretext 
that  they  are  to  do  police  work  and  keep  order  in  the  pass. 
It  is  blackmail  and  bribery,  but  accomplishes  its  purpose, 
and  the  pass  itself,  with  a  strip  of  highlands  and  foothills 
on  the  Afghanistan  side,  is  thus  occupied  by  a  neutral 
party,  which  prevents  friction  between  the  nations  on 
either  side  of  the  border.  The  Afridis  are  fearless 
fighters,  half-civilized,  half-savage,  and  almost  entirely 
supported  by  the  subsidies  they  receive.  Nearly  all  of 
the  able-bodied  men  are  under  arms.     A  few,  who  are 


338  MODERN  INDIA 

too  old  or  too  young  to  fight,  remain  at  home  and  look 
after  the  cattle  and  the  scraggy  gardens  upon  the  gravelly 
hillsides.  The  women  are  as  hardy  and  as  enduring  as 
the  men  and  are  taught  to  handle  the  rifle.  The  British 
authorities  are  confident  of  the  loyalty  of  the  Afridis  and 
believe  that  the  present  arrangement  would  be  absolutely 
safe  in  time  of  war  as  it  is  in  time  of  peace — that  they 
would  permit  no  armed  body,  whether  Russians  or  Af- 
ghans, to  cross  the  pass  without  the  consent  of  both  sides, 
as  is  provided  by  treaty  stipulations. 

The  arrangement  is  as  efifective  as  it  is  novel  and  the 
Afridis  carry  out  every  detail  conscientiously.  The  pass 
is  open  only  two  days  in  the  week,  on  Tuesdays  and  Fri- 
days. No  one  is  permitted  to  cross  or  even  enter  it  from 
either  side  except  on  those  days.  And  even  then  trav- 
elers, tourists  and  others  actuated  by  curiosity  are  not 
allowed  to  go  through  without  permits.  The  caravans 
going  both  ways  are  required  to  camp  under  well-formed 
regulations  at  either  entrance  until  daylight  of  Tuesday 
or  Friday,  when  they  are  escorted  through  by  armed 
bodies  of  Afridis  horsemen.  There  is  not  the  slightest 
danger  of  any  sort  to  any  one,  but  it  is  just  as  well  to  go 
through  the  ceremony,  for  it  keeps  the  Afridis  out  of  mis- 
chief and  reminds  them  continually  of  their  great  respon- 
sibilities. These  caravans  are  interesting.  They  are 
composed  of  long  strings  of  loaded  camels,  ox-carts, 
mules  and  donkeys,  vehicles  of  all  descriptions  and  thou- 
sands of  people  traveling  on  foot,  who  come  sometimes 
from  as  far  west  as  the  Ural  Mountains  and  the  banks 
of  the  Volga  River.  They  come  from  Persia,  from  all 
parts  of  Siberia  and  from  the  semi-barbarous  tribes  who 
inhabit  that  mysterious  region  in  central  Asia,  known  as 
the  "Roof  of  the  World." 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  339 

The  camel  drivers  and  the  traders  are  fierce-looking 
men  and  extremely  dirty.  They  have  traveled  a  long 
way  and  over  roads  that  are  very  dusty,  and  water  is 
scarce  the  entire  distance.  They  look  as  if  they  had 
never  washed  their  faces  or  cut  their  hair,  and  their 
shaggy,  greasy,  black  locks  hang  down  upon  their  shoul- 
ders beneath  enormous  turbans.  Each  wears  the  cos- 
tume of  his  own  country,  but  they  are  so  ragged,  grimy 
and  filthy  that  the  romance  of  it  is  lost.  The  Afghans 
are  in  the  majority.  They  are  stalwart,  big-bearded  men, 
with  large  features,  long  noses  and  cunning  eyes,  and 
claim  that  their  ancestors  were  one  of  the  lost  tribes  of 
Israel.  Their  traditions,  customs,  physiognomy  and  dia- 
lects support  this  theory.  Although  they  are  Moham- 
medans, they  practice  several  ancient  Jewish  rites.  The 
American  missionaries  who  have  schools  and  churches 
among  them  are  continually  running  up  against  customs 
and  traditions  which  remind  them  forcibly  of  the  Mosaic 
teachings.  They  have  considerable  literature,  poetry,  his- 
tory, biography,  philosophy  and  ecclesiastical  works,  and 
some  of  their  priests  have  large  libraries  of  native  books, 
which,  the  missionaries  say,  are  full  of  suggestions  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

One  of  the  most  successful  missionaries  in  that  part  of 
the  world  was  an  apostate  Polish  Jew  named  Rev.  Isidore 
Lowenthal,  a  remarkable  linguist  and  a  man  of  profound 
learning.  He  translated  the  Bible  and  several  other 
religious  books  into  Pashto,  the  language  of  the  Afghans, 
and  was  convinced  that  he  shared  with  them  the  same 
ancestry.  A  story  that  Is  invariably  related  to  travelers 
up  in  that  country  refers  to  his  untimely  taking  off,  for  he 
was  accidentally  shot  by  one  of  his  household  attendants, 


340  MODERN  INDIA 

and  his  epitaph,  after  giving  the  usual  statistical  infor- 
mation, reads : 

He  was  shot  accidentally  by  his  chookidar. 
Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant. 
I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  Afghanistan  question,  is,  so  to  speak,  in  statu  quo. 
The  ameer  is  friendly  to  the  British,  but  asserts  his  inde- 
pendence with  a  great  deal  of  firmness  and  vigor,  and  is 
an  ever-present  source  of  anxiety.  He  receives  a  sub- 
sidy of  $600,000  from  the  British  government,  which  is 
practically  a  bribe  to  induce  him  not  to  make  friends  with 
Russia,  and  yet  there  are  continual  reports  concerning 
Russian  intrigues  in  that  direction.  He  declines  to  re- 
ceive an  English  envoy  and  will  not  permit  any  English- 
men to  reside  at  his  court.  The  Indian  government  is 
represented  at  Kabul  by  a  highly  educated  and  able  native 
Indian,  who  is  called  a  diplomatic  agent,  and  has  diplo- 
matic powers.  He  reports  to  and  receives  instructions 
from  Lord  Curzon  directly,  and  is  the  only  medium  of 
communication  between  the  ameer  and  the  British  gov- 
ernment. The  present  ameer  has  been  on  the  throne 
only  since  the  death  of  his  father,  the  ameer  Abdur 
Rahman,  in  October,  1901,  and  for  several  months  there 
was  considerable  anxiety  as  to  what  policy  the  young 
man,  Habi  Bullah  Khan,  would  adopt.  During  the  last 
three  years  of  the  old  man's  life  he  yielded  his  power 
very  largely  to  his  son,  and  selected  him  twenty  wives 
from  the  twenty  most  influential  families  in  the  kingdom 
in  order  to  strengthen  his  throne.  Although  Habi  Bullah 
is  not  so  able  or  determined  as  his  father,  he  has  held  his 
position  without  an  insurrection  or  a  protest,  and  is  no 
longer  in  danger  of  being  overthrown  by  one  of  the  bloody 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  341 

conspiracies  which  have  interlarded  Afghanistan  history 
for  the  last  two  centuries. 

The  British  were  fortunate  in  having  a  viceroy  at  that 
critical  period  who  was  personally  acquainted  with  the 
young  ameer  and  a  friend  of  his  father.  When  Lord 
Curzon  was  a  correspondent  of  the  London  Times,  before 
he  entered  parliament,  he  visited  Cabul  and  formed  pleas- 
ant relations  with  the  late  ameer,  who  speaks  of  him  in 
most  complimentary  terms  in  his  recently  published 
memoirs.  The  old  man  happened  to  die  during  the  dark- 
est period  of  the  South  African  war,  and  Russia  took 
occasion  at  that  critical  moment  to  demand  the  right  to 
enter  into  independent  diplomatic  negotiations  with  Af- 
ghanistan for  the  survey  of  a  railroad  across  that  country. 
Only  a  few  years  before,  Great  Britain  fought  a  war  with 
Afghanistan  and  overthrew  Shere  Ali,  the  shah,  because 
he  received  a  Russian  ambassador  on  a  similar  errand, 
after  having  refused  to  allow  a  British  envoy  to  reside  at 
his  court  or  even  enter  his  country.  And  there  is  no 
telling  what  might  have  happened  had  not  Lord  Curzon 
taken  advantage  of  his  personal  relations  and  former 
friendship.  Russia  selected  a  significant  date  to  make 
her  demands.  It  was  only  a  fortnight  after  the  British 
repulse  at  Spion  Kop,  and  Ladysmith  was  in  a  hopeless 
state  of  siege.  Such  situations  have  a  powerful  influence 
upon  semi-civilized  soldiers,  who  are  invariably  inclined 
to  be  friendly  to  those  who  are  successful  at  arms.  How- 
ever, Lord  Curzon  had  influence  enough  to  hold  the 
ameer  to  the  British  side,  and  the  latter  has  ever  since 
shown  a  friendly  disposition  to  the  British  and  has  given 
the  Russians  no  public  encouragement. 

The  official  report  of  the  viceroy  to  the  secretary  of 
state  for  India  m  London,  covering  the  ten  years  ending 


342  MODERN   INDIA 

Dec.  31,  1902,  contains  the  following  interesting  para- 
graph concerning  the  greatest  source  of  anxiety : 

"Relations  with  Afghanistan  have  been  peaceful 
throughout  the  decade.  Although  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Afghan  influence  among  the  turbulent  tribes 
on  the  northwestern  frontier  was  at  times  the  cause  of 
restlessness  and  disorder,  the  Durand  agreement  of  1893, 
followed  by  the  demarcation  of  the  southern  and  nearly 
all  the  eastern  Afghan  boundary,  set  a  definite  limit  to  the 
legitimate  interference  of  Afghanistan  with  the  tribes 
included  in  the  British  sphere  of  influence.  Under  that 
agreement  the  annual  subsidy  paid  by  the  British  govern- 
ment to  the  ameer  was  increased  from  i8o,ooo  to  £120,- 
000.  A  further  demarcation,  which  aflfected  alike  Af- 
ghanistan and  the  British  sphere,  was  that  which  resulted 
from  the  Pamir  agreement  concluded  with  Russia  in  1895. 
Russia  agreed  to  accept  the  River  Oxus  as  her  southern 
boundary  as  far  east  as  the  Victoria  Lake.  Thence  to  the 
Chinese  frontier  a  line  was  fixed  by  a  demarcation  com- 
mission. This  arrangement  involved  an  interchange  of 
territories  lying  on  the  north  and  south  bank  of  the  Oxus 
respectively  between  Afghanistan  and  Bokhara,  which 
was  carried  out  in  1896.  The  Ameer  of  Afghanistan  also 
undertook  to  conduct  the  administration  of  Wakkhan, 
lying  between  the  new  boun'dary  and  the  Hindu  Kush,  in 
return  for  an  increase  of  his  subsidy. 

"Under  the  strong  rule  of  the  late  ameer  the  country 
for  the  most  part  enjoyed  internal  peace,  but  this  was 
broken  by  the  revolt  of  the  Hazaras  in  1892,  which  v.as 
severely  suppressed.  In  1895-96  Kafiristan,  a  region 
which  the  delimitation  included  in  the  Afghan  sphere  of 
influence,  was  subjugated.  Political  relations  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  India  with  the  late  and  with  the  present  ameer 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  343 

have  been  friendly,  and  were  undisturbed  by  the  murder 
of  the  British  agent  at  Kabul  by  one  of  his  servants  in 
1895,  an  incident  which  had  no  political  significance.  In 
the  year  1894-95  His  Highness  sent  his  second  son, 
Shahzada  Nasrulla  Khan,  to  visit  England  as  the  guest 
of  Her  Majesty's  government.  The  Ameer  Abdur  Rah- 
man, G.  C.  B.,  died  in  October,  1901,  and  was  peacefully 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Habi  Bullah  Khan,  G.  C. 
M.  G." 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  what  Lord  Curzon  knows  and 
believes  concerning  the  aggressive  policy  of  Russia  in 
Asia,  because,  shortly  before  he  was  appointed  viceroy  of 
India,  he  wrote  an  article  on  that  subject  for  a  London 
magazine,  which  is  still  what  editors  call  "live  matter." 

"The  supreme  interest,"  he  said,  "lies  in  the  physical 
fact  that  it  (the  northwestern  frontier)  is  the  only  side 
upon  which  India  has  been  or  ever  can  be  invaded  by 
land,  and  in  the  political  fact  that  it  confronts  a  series  of 
territories  inhabited  by  wild  and  turbulent,  by  independ- 
ent or  semi-independent  tribes,  behind  whom  looms  the 
grim  figure  of  Russia,  daily  advancing  into  clearer  out- 
line from  the  opposite  or  northwest  quarter.  It  is  to 
protect  the  Indian  Empire,  its  peoples,  its  trades,  its 
laboriously  established  government  and  its  accumulated 
wealth  from  the  insecurity  and  possible  danger  arising 
from  a  further  Russian  advance  across  the  intervening 
space  that  the  frontier  which  I  am  about  to  describe  has 
been  traced  and  fortified.  Politicians  of  all  parties  have 
agreed  that,  while  the  territorial  aggrandizement  of  Rus- 
sia is  permissible  over  regions  where  she  replaces  bar- 
barism even  by  a  crude  civilization,  there  can  be  no  excuse 
for  allowing  her  to  take  up  a  position  in  territories  ac- 
knowledging our  sway,  where  she  can  directly  menace 


344  MODERN  INDIA 

British  interests  in  India,  or  indirectly  impose  an  exces- 
sive strain  upon  the  resources  and  the  armed  strength  of 
our  eastern  dominions.  The  guardianship  of  the  frontier 
is,  therefore,  an  act  of  defense,  not  of  defiance,  and  is  an 
elementary  and  essential  obligation  of  imperial  states- 
manship. 

"Originally  it  was  supposed  that  there  were  but  three 
or  four  passes  or  cracks  by  which  this  mountain  barrier 
was  perforated,  and  that  if  British  soldiers  only  stood 
sentinel  at  their  exits  an  invader  would  have  no  other 
alternative  but  to  come  down  and  be  annihilated.  Mod- 
ern surveys,  however,  have  shown  that  the  number  of 
available  passes  is  nearer  300  than  three,  a  discovery 
which  has  suggested  the  policy  of  establishing  friendly 
relations  with  the  tribes  who  hold  them,  and  thus  acquir- 
ing an  indirect  control  over  their  western  mouths.  For 
just  as  the  main  physical  feature  of  the  frontier  is  this 
mountain  wall,  with  its  narrow  lateral  slits,  so  the  main 
political  feature  is  the  existence  in  the  tracts  of  country 
thus  characterized  of  a  succession  of  wild  and  warlike 
tribes,  owing  allegiance  to  no  foreign  potentate,  but 
cherishing  an  immemorial  love  for  freedom  and  their 
native  hills." 

Although  the  idea  of  consolidating  these  border  tribes 
into  a  single  province,  with  an  administrator  and  staff  of 
officers  of  its  own  directly  under  the  control  of  the  vice- 
roy, was  first  suggested  by  the  late  Lord  Lytton,  it  has 
been  the  good  fortune  of  Lord  Curzon  to  carry  it  into 
effect,  and  it  is  considered  one  of  the  wisest  and  most 
notable  events  of  his  administration  of  Indian  affairs. 
The  new  community,  which  is  called  the  Northwest 
Frontier  Province,  was  organized  in  February,  1901,  and 
takes  in  the  wide  stretch  of  territory  which  is  described 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  345 

by  its  name.  It  is  directly  governed  by  an  agent  of  the 
governor  general  and  a  chief  commissioner,  who  allow 
the  widest  liberty  and  jurisdiction  to  the  local  chiefs  con- 
sistent with  peace  and  good  government.  The  new  sys- 
tem has  been  working  since  1902,  and  while  it  is  yet  too 
early  to  calculate  the  results,  the  improvement  already 
noticed  in  the  condition  of  affairs,  peace,  industry,  morals, 
the  increase  of  trade  and  the  development  of  natural  re- 
sources justifies  the  expectation  that  the  semi-barbarous 
tribes  will  soon  yield  to  the  influences  of  civilization  and 
settle  down  into  industrious,  law-abiding  and  useful 
citizens.  At  least  their  organization  and  discipline  under 
the  command  of  tactful  and  discreet  English  officers  gives 
to  India  a  frontier  guard  composed  of  30,000  or  40,000 
fearless  fighters,  who  will  be  kept  on  the  skirmish  line  and 
will  prove  invaluable  through  their  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  the  mountain  trails  in  case  of  a  border  war. 
The  military  position  of  England  has  thus  been  strength- 
ened immensely,  and  when  the  railways  now  being  con- 
structed in  that  direction  are  completed,  so  that  regular 
British  and  native  troops  may  be  hurried  to  the  support 
of  the  wild  and  warlike  tribes  whenever  it  is  necessary,  a 
constant  cause  of  anxiety  will  be  removed  and  the  north- 
western frontier  will  be  thoroughly  protected. 

The  problems  connected  with  the  aggressive  policy  of 
Russia  on  the  Indian  frontier  are  very  serious  from  every 
point  of  view  to  every  Englishman,  and  whenever  the  time 
comes,  if  it  ever  does  come,  the  frontier  will  be  defended 
with  all  the  power  of  the  British  Empire.  The  aggres- 
siveness of  Russia  has  been  felt  throughout  India  much 
more  than  anyone  can  realize  who  has  not  lived  there  and 
come  in  contact  with  affairs.  It  has  been  like  a  dark 
cloud  continually  threatening  the  horizon  ;  it  has  disturbed 


346  MODERN  INDIA 

the  finances  of  the  country  ;  it  has  entered  into  the  con- 
sideration of  every  public  improvement,  and  has,  directly 
or  indirectly,  influenced  the  expenditure  of  every  dollar, 
the  organization  of  the  army,  the  construction  of  fortifi- 
cations and  the  maintenance  of  a  fleet.  The  policy  of  Lord 
Curzon  is  to  bring  all  the  various  frontier  tribes,  which 
aggregate  perhaps  2,000,000,  under  the  influence  of  Brit- 
ish authority.  To  make  them  friends ;  to  convince  them 
that  loyalty  is  to  their  advantage  ;  to  organize  them  so  that 
they  shall  be  a  source  of  strength  and  not  of  weakness  or 
peril ;  to  teach  them  the  blessings  of  peace  and  industry ; 
to  avoid  unnecessary  interference  with  their  tribal  affairs ; 
to  promote  the  construction  of  railways,  highways  and 
all  facilities  of  communication ;  to  extend  trade,  introduce 
schools  and  mechanical  industries,  and  to  control  the 
traffic  in  arms  and  ammunition.  The  commercial  and  the 
military  policies  are  closely  involved  and  in  a  measure 
one  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  other. 

South  of  Afghanistan,  and  the  westernmost  territory 
under  British  control,  is  Baluchistan,  whose  western 
boundary  is  Persia  and  the  Arabian  Sea.  It  was  for- 
merly a  confederation  of  semi-independent  nomadic 
tribes  under  the  Khan  of  Kalat,  with  a  population  of  about 
a  million  souls,  but  twenty-six  years  ago,  after  the 
Afghan  war  of  1878,  those  tribes  were  taken  under  the 
protection  of  the  Indian  government  and  Sir  Robert 
Sanderman,  a  wise,  tactful  and  energetic  man,  assisted 
the  native  rulers  to  reorganize  and  administer  their 
aflfairs.  During  that  period  the  condition  of  the  country 
has  radically  changed.  British  authority  is  now  supreme, 
the  primitive  conditions  of  the  people  have  been  greatlv 
improved,  they  have  settled  down  almost  universally  in 
permanent  towns  and  villages,  many  of  them  are  culti- 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  347 

vating  the  soil,  producing  valuable  staples  and  improving 
their  condition  in  every  respect.  The  country  consists 
largely  of  barren  mountains,  deserts  and  stony  plains. 
Its  climate  is  very  severe.  The  summers  are  intensely 
hot  and  the  winters  intensely  cold.  The  wealth  of  the 
people  is  chiefly  in  flocks  and  cattle,  and  they  are  now 
raising  camels,  which  is  a  profitable  business.  The  chief 
exports  are  wool  and  hides,  which  are  all  clear  gain  now 
that  the  cultivation  of  the  fields  provides  sufficient  wheat, 
barley,  millet,  potatoes  and  other  vegetables  to  supply  the 
wants  of  the  people.  Fruits  grown  in  the  valleys  are 
superior  to  anything  produced  in  other  parts  of  Asia. 
The  apples  and  peaches  of  Baluchistan  are  famous  and 
are  considered  great  delicacies  in  the  Indian  market. 
There  is  supposed  to  be  considerable  mineral  in  the 
mountains,  although  they  have  never  been  explored.  Iron, 
lead,  coal,  asbestos,  oil  and  salt  have  been  found  in  abun- 
dance, and  some  silver. 

The  efforts  of  the  government  have  been  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  people  to  mechanical  industries  rather 
than  to  mining,  because  it  is  important  to  break  them  of 
their  nomadic  tendencies  and  accustom  them  to  permanent 
homes  and  regular  employment.  They  resemble  the 
Bedouins  of  Arabia  in  many  respects  and  prefer  to  follow 
their  flocks  and  herds  over  the  mountains  rather  than 
settle  down  in  the  towns.  The  men  are  hardy,  brave,  hon- 
est and  intelligent,  but  are  desperate  fighters  and  of  cruel 
disposition ;  the  women  resemble  the  Chinese  more  than 
the  Arabs,  and  are  bright,  active  and  ingenuous.  The 
sense  of  humor  is  highly  developed  and  the  laws  of  hos- 
pitality are  similar  to  those  of  the  Arabs. 

Although  the  British  agent  in  Baluchistan  has  auto- 
cratic powers  whenever  he  finds  it  necessary  to  exercise 


348  MODERN  INDIA 

them,  the  Khan  of  Kalat  is  allowed  to  govern  the  country 
in  his  own  way,  and  to  all  appearances  is  the  independent 
authority.  He  is  given  a  subsidy  of  about  $75,000  a  year 
on  his  private  account  from  the  Indian  government,  and 
his  official  income  averages  about  500,000  rupees  a  year, 
which  is  equivalent  to  about  $175,000.  With  this  he  pays 
the  expenses  of  his  government  and  maintains  a  body- 
guard of  about  250  native  cavalry.  Only  once  has  the 
British  government  found  it  necessary  to  interfere  in  an 
arbitrary  manner.  On  that  occasion  Khudadad,  the  late 
ruling  khan,  murdered  his  prime  minister  in  a  fit  of  pas- 
sion, and  upon  investigation  it  was  found  that  he  had  put 
to  death  also  without  trial  a  number  of  innocent  subjects. 
The  Viceroy  of  India  permitted  him  to  abdicate  and  gave 
him  a  generous  allowance,  which  was  much  better  treat- 
ment than  the  villain  was  entitled  to.  His  son,  Mir  Mah- 
mud,  who  succeeded  him,  turns  out  to  be  an  excellent 
ruler.  He  is  intelligent,  conscientious,  and  has  the  wel- 
fare of  his  people  at  heart. 

There  is  little  of  interest  except  the  political  question 
and  the  peculiar  appearance  of  the  people  up  in  that  par- 
ticular part  of  India.  It  has  been  debatable  ground  as 
far  back  as  the  earliest  days  of  Aryan  colonization. 
Although  Peshawur  is  regarded  as  a  modern  city,  it  is 
mentioned  by  the  historians  who  wrote  up  the  campaigns 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  if  you  will  go  up  there  the 
guides  will  show  you  where  he  crossed  the  river.  The 
city  has  a  population  of  about  80,000,  of  which  three- 
fourths  are  Moslems.  They  come  from  every  part  of 
Asia,  and  the  streets  and  bazaars  swarm  with  quaint 
costumes  and  strange  faces  unlike  any  you  have  ever  seen 
before.  And  w^hat  strikes  a  traveler  most  forcibly  is 
their  proud  demeanor,  their  haughty  bearing  and  the  in- 


THE  FRONTIER  QUESTION  349 

dependent  spirit  expressed  by  every  glance  and  every 
gesture.  They  walk  like  kings,  these  fierce,  intolerant 
sons  of  the  desert,  and  their  costumes,  no  matter  how 
dirty  and  trail-worn  they  may  be,  add  to  the  dignity  and 
manliness  of  their  deportment. 

They  are  so  different,  these  haughty  Mohammedans, 
from  the  bare-legged,  barefooted,  cringing,  crouching 
creatures  you  see  farther  south.  It  would  seem  impossi- 
ble for  these  men  to  stoop  for  any  purpose,  but  the  Ben- 
galese,  the  Hindustani  and  the  rest  of  the  population  of 
the  southern  provinces,  do  everything  on  the  ground. 
They  never  use  chairs  or  benches,  but  always  squat  upon 
the  floor,  and  all  their  work  is  done  upon  the  ground. 
Carpenters  have  no  benches,  and  if  they  plane  a  board 
they  place  it  upon  the  earth  before  them  and  hold  it  fast 
with  their  feet.  The  blacksmith  has  his  anvil  on  the  floor ; 
the  goldsmith,  the  tailor  and  even  the  printer  use  the 
floor  for  benches,  and  it  is  the  desk  of  the  letter  writer 
and  the  bookkeeper. 

It  looks  queer  to  see  a  printer  squatting  before  a  case 
of  type,  and  even  queerer  to  see  a  person  writing  a  letter 
with  a  block  of  paper  spread  out  before  him  on  the 
ground.  But  that  is  the  Hindu  custom.  You  find  it 
everywhere  throughout  India,  just  as  you  will  find  every- 
body, men,  women  and  children,  carrying  their  loads,  no 
matter  how  light  or  how  heavy,  upon  their  heads.  If  an 
errand  boy  is  sent  from  a  shop  with  a  parcel  he  never 
touches  it  with  his  hands,  but  invariably  carries  it  on  top 
of  his  turban.  One  morning  I  counted  seven  young 
chaps  with  "shining  morning  faces"  on  their  way  to 
school,  every  one  of  them  with  his  books  and  slate  upon 
his  head.  The  masons'  helpers,  who  are  mostly  women, 
carry  bricks  and  mortar  upon  their  heads  instead  of  in 


350  MODERN  INDIA 

hods  on  their  shoulders,  and  it  is  remarkable  what  heavy 
loads  their  spines  will  support.  At  the  railway  stations 
the  luggage  and  freight  is  carried  the  same  way.  The 
necks  and  backs  of  the  natives  are  developed  at  a  very 
early  age.  If  a  porter  can  get  assistance  to  hoist  it  to 
the  top  of  his  head  he  will  stagger  along  under  any 
burden  all  right.  I  have  seen  eight  men  under  a  grand 
piano  and  two  men  under  a  big  American  roller  top 
desk,  and  in  Calcutta,  where  one  of  the  street  railway 
companies  was  extending  its  tracks,  I  saw  the  workmen 
carry  the  rails  upon  their  heads. 


XXII 


THE  ARMY  IN   INDIA 


The  regular  army  in  India  is  maintained  at  an  average 
strength  of  200,000  men.  The  actual  number  of  names 
upon  the  pay  rolls  on  the  31st  of  December,  1904,  was 
203,114.  This  includes  several  thousand  non-fighting 
men,  a  signal  corps,  a  number  of  officers  engaged  in  semi- 
civil  or  semi-military  duties,  those  on  staff  detail  and 
those  on  leave  of  absence.  The  following  is  an  exact 
statement : 

BRITISH 

Cavalry,  three  regiments 2,101 

Artillery,  eighty-seven  batteries 14,424 

Infantry,   forty-five  battalions 42,151 

Engineers,   one   battalion 204 

58,880 

NATIVES 

Cavalry,  forty  regiments 24,608 

Artillery,  fourteen  batteries 6,235 

Infantry,   126  battalions 108,849 

Engineers,  twenty-three  battalions 3,925 

143,617 

Officers  on  staff  duty 617 

Grand   total 203,1 14 

351 


352  MODERN  INDIA 

This  regular  and  permanent  military  force  is  supple- 
mented by  native  armies  in  the  various  independent  states, 
which  are  only  indirectly  under  the  command  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief and  are  not  well  organized,  except  in  one 
or  two  of  the  provinces.  There  is  a  reserve  corps  con- 
sisting of  22,233  rnen  who  have  served  in  the  regular 
army  and  are  now  upon  what  we  call  the  retired  list. 
They  may  be  called  out  at  any  time  their  services  are 
needed.  There  is  also  a  volunteer  force  numbering 
29,500  men,  including  cavalry,  artillery,  infantry  and 
marines,  many  of  them  under  the  command  of  retired 
officers  of  the  regular  army ;  and  the  employes  of  several 
of  the  great  railroad  companies  are  organized  into  mili- 
tary corps  and  drill  frequently.  There  is  also  a  military 
police  under  the  control  of  the  executive  authorities  of  the 
several  provinces,  making  altogether  about  300,000  men 
capable  of  being  mobilized  on  short  notice  in  any  emer- 
gency, about  one-third  of  them  being  Englishmen  and 
two-thirds  natives. 

In  1856,  before  the  great  mutiny,  the  British  forces  in 
India  consisted  of  less  than  40,000  Europeans  and  more 
than  220,000  natives,  besides  about  30,000  contingents,  as 
they  were  called,  maintained  by  the  rulers  of  the  native 
states  and  at  their  expense.  The  greater  part  of  the 
artillery  was  manned  by  native  soldiers  under  European 
officers.  Three-fourths  of  the  native  soldiers  participated 
in  the  mutiny.  The  Madras  forces  in  southern  India  and 
the  Sikhs  in  the  Punjab  were  not  only  loyal  but  rendered 
valuable  services  in  suppressing  the  revolt.  On  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  army,  after  the  mutiny  was  suppressed, 
it  was  decided  that  there  should  never  be  more  than  two 
natives  to  one  European  in  the  service;  that  the  artillery 
should  be  manned  by  Europeans  exclusively,  and  that  all 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  353 

the  arsenals  and  supply  stations  should  be  in  their  charge. 
Since  the  reorganization  there  has  been  an  average  of 
60,000  British  and  120,000  native  troops  in  India.  All 
the  artillery  has  been  manned  by  Europeans,  the  British 
troops  have  been  garrisoned  at  stations  where  they  can 
render  the  most  prompt  and  efficient  service,  and  all  of 
the  cantonments,  as  the  European  camps  are  called,  all 
the  fortresses  and  arsenals,  are  connected  with  each  other 
and  with  Bombay  and  Calcutta  by  railway.  When  the 
mutiny  broke  out  in  1857  there  were  only  about  400  miles 
of  railway  in  India,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  great  difficulty, 
delay  and  expense  to  move  troops  any  distance.  To-day 
India  has  nearly  28,000  miles  of  railway,  which  has  all 
been  planned  and  constructed  as  a  part  of  the  national 
defense  system.  In  1857  it  took  between  three  and  four 
months  for  a  relief  party  to  reach  Delhi  from  the  sea- 
board. To-day  ten  times  the  force  could  be  sent  there 
from  any  part  of  India  within  as  many  days. 

Another  vital  error  demonstrated  by  the  mutiny  was 
the  former  plan  of  drawing  soldiers  from  a  single  caste. 
They  were  all  under  the  same  influence ;  all  had  the  same 
interests  and  were  governed  by  the  same  prejudices,  and 
could  be  easily  united  for  the  same  purpose.  Now  caste 
is  not  recognized  in  the  army.  Recruits  are  drawn  from 
every  tribe  and  every  caste,  and  men  of  different  races, 
religions  and  provinces  are  thrown  together  in  the  same 
company  and  are  not  allowed  to  serve  in  the  locality  where 
they  were  enlisted.  Enlistments  are  entirely  vol- 
untary. The  natives  are  armed,  equipped  and  clothed 
by  the  state,  but  provide  their  own  food,  for  which 
they  receive  a  proper  allowance.  This  is  necessary 
in  order  that  they  may  regulate  their  own  diet  and  obey 
the  laws  of  their  caste.     There  are  also  what  are  called 


354  MODERN  INDIA 

"class  company  regiments,"  composed  chiefly  of  men  who 
are  serving  second  enlistments.  That  is,  men  of  the  same 
race  and  caste  are  organized  into  separate  companies,  so 
that  a  regiment  may  have  two  companies  of  Sikhs,  two 
companies  of  Brahmins,  two  companies  of  Rajputs,  two 
companies  of  Mohammedans,  two  companies  of  Gurkhas 
and  companies  of  other  tribes  or  religious  sects  which 
neutralize  each  other  and  are  inspired  by  active  rivalry. 

Race  outbreaks  and  religious  collisions  very  seldom 
occur  in  India  these  days,  but  the  hostility  between  the 
several  sects  and  races  is  very  deep.  The  Mohammedan 
still  dreams  of  the  day  when  his  race  shall  recover  control 
of  the  Indian  Empire  and  turn  the  Hindu  temples  into 
mosques.  The  Sikhs  hate  the  Mohammedans  as  well  as 
the  Hindus.     None  of  the  sects  is  without  its  prejudices. 

The  most  efficient  section  of  the  native  army  is  com- 
posed of  the  Sikhs,  the  Gurkhas,  who  are  enlisted  in 
Nepaul,  and  the  Pathans,  who  come  from  the  hill  tribes 
in  the  far  northwest.  These  are  all  vigorous,  hardy  races, 
fearless,  enduring  and  fond  of  military  service.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  in  any  country  better  soldiers  than  they 
make,  and  their  numerical  strength  in  the  Indian  army 
could  be  doubled  without  difficulty  in  case  more  soldiers 
were  needed. 

All  cities,  towns  and  villages  have  regularly  organized 
police  forces,  consisting  entirely  of  natives  and  numbering 
about  700,000.  In  the  larger  cities  and  towns  the  chief 
officers  are  European,  and  throughout  the  entire  country 
the  preference  in  making  appointments  to  this  force  is 
given  to  men  who  have  served  in  the  regular  army. 
About  170,000  officers  and  men  have  this  distinction  and 
make  very  efficient  police. 

The  supreme  authority  over  the  army  in  India  is  vested 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  355 

by  law  in  the  viceroy  and  is  exercised  through  a  member 
of  the  council  of  state,  known  as  the  secretary  of  military 
affairs,  who  corresponds  to  our  Secretary  of  War.  The 
active  command  is  in  the  person  of  the  commander-in- 
chief,  who  is  also  a  member  of  the  council  of  state  by  vir- 
tue of  his  office.  The  present  commander-in-chief  is  Lord 
Kitchener,  the  hero  of  Khartoum  and  of  the  recent  Boer 
war.  Lord  Roberts  was  formerly  in  command  of  the 
Indian  army.  He  served  in  that  country  for  thirty-eight 
years  in  various  capacities.  He  went  as  a  youngster  dur- 
ing the  mutiny,  was  with  the  party  that  relieved  Delhi, 
and  saw  his  first  fighting  and  got  his  "baptism  of  blood" 
upon  the  "ridge,"  which  was  the  scene  of  the  fiercest 
struggle  between  the  English  rescuers  and  the  native 
mutineers.  He  has  recently  published  a  readable  book 
giving  an  account  of  his  experience  during  thirty-eight 
years  of  military  service  in  India. 

Lord  Kitchener  is  assisted  by  four  lieutenant  generals, 
each  having  command  of  one  of  the  four  military  divisions 
into  which  the  empire  is  divided.  The  Calcutta  division 
is  under  the  command  of  General  Sir  Alfred  Gaseley,  who 
led  the  combined  international  forces  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged  legations  in  Peking.  There  is  a  general  staff 
similar  to  that  recently  organized  in  the  United  States 
army,  which  looks  after  the  equipment,  the  feeding,  the 
clothing  and  the  transportation  of  the  army  with  an  enor- 
mous corps  of  clerks  and  subordinate  officers. 

The  officers  of  the  staff  corps  number  2,700,  and  are 
appointed  from  the  line  of  the  native  army  upon  the  merit 
system.  Many  of  them  were  educated  at  the  military 
colleges  in  England ;  many  others  have  seen  service  in  the 
regular  army  of  great  Britain,  and  have  sought  transfer 
because  the  pay  is  better  and  promotion  is  more  rapid  in 


356  MODERN  INDIA 

the  Indian  than  in  the  British  army.  However,  before 
an  officer  is  eligible  for  staff  employment  in  India  he  must 
serve  at  least  one  year  with  a  British  regiment  and  one 
year  with  a  native  regiment,  and  must  pass  exaininations 
in  the  native  languages  and  on  professional  subjects.  This 
is  an  incentive  to  study,  of  which  many  young  officers 
take  advantage,  and  in  the  Indian  army  list  are  several 
pages  of  names  of  officers  who  have  submitted  to  ex- 
aminations and  have  demonstrated  their  ability  to  talk, 
read  and  write  one  or  more  of  the  native  tongues.  The 
gossips  say  that  during  his  voyage  from  London  to  Bom- 
bay two  years  ago  Lord  Kitchener  shut  himself  up  in  his 
stateroom  and  spent  his  entire  time  refreshing  his  knowl- 
edge of  Hindustani. 

No  officer  is  allowed  a  responsible  command  unless  he 
can  speak  the  native  language  of  the  district  in  which  he 
is  serving,  and,  as  there  are  ii8  different  dialects  spoken 
in  India,  some  of  the  older  officers  have  to  be  familiar 
with  several  of  them.  Such  linguistic  accomplishments 
are  to  the  advantage  of  military  officers  in  various  ways. 
They  are  not  only  necessary  for  their  transfer  to  staflf 
duty,  but  insure  more  rapid  promotion,  greater  responsi- 
bilities and  render  them  liable  at  any  time  to  be  called 
upon  for  important  service  under  the  civil  departments. 
Several  thousand  officers  are  now  occupying  civil  and 
diplomatic  posts,  and  are  even  performing  judicial  func- 
tions in  the  frontier  provinces. 

The  armies  of  the  native  states  look  formidable  on 
paper,  but  most  of  them  are  simply  for  show,  and  are 
intended  to  gratify  the  vanity  of  the  Hindu  princes  who 
love  to  be  surrounded  by  guards  and  escorted  by  soldiers 
with  banners.  Some  of  the  uniforms  of  the  native  armies 
are   as  picturesque  and  artistic  as   those  of  the  papal 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  357 

guards  at  the  Vatican,  and  on  occasions  of  ceremony  they 
make  a  brave  show,  but  with  the  exception  of  two  or 
three  of  the  provinces,  the  native  forces  would  be  of  very 
Httle  value  in  a  war. 

The  military  authorities  of  India  are  exceedingly  proud 
of  the  morale  and  the  hygienic  condition  of  their  troops, 
and  the  records  of  the  judge  advocates  and  medical  de- 
partments show  a  remarkable  improvement  in  these  re- 
spects, which  is  largely  due  to  the  scientific  construction 
of  barracks,  to  the  enforcement  of  discipline  and  regula- 
tions framed  to  suit  climatic  conditions,  a  better  knowl- 
edge of  the  effect  of  food  and  drink  and  the  close 
observance  of  the  laws  of  hygiene.  The  climate  is  very 
severe,  particularly  upon  Europeans,  who  must  take  care 
of  themselves  or  suflfer  the  consequences.  The  death 
rate  in  all  armies  in  time  of  peace  should  be  much  lower 
than  in  the  ordinary  community,  because  recruits  are 
required  to  submit  to  physical  examinations,  and  none 
but  able-bodied  men  are  enlisted.  The  death  rate  in  the 
army  of  the  United  States  before  our  soldiers  were  sent 
to  the  Philippines  was  remarkably  low,  only  three  or 
four  per  1,000  per  year. 

Some  years  ago  in  the  army  of  India  the  mortality 
from  disease  was  as  high  as  sixty-nine  per  1,000,  but  by 
the  introduction  of  the  reforms  mentioned  the  rate  had 
been  reduced  to  nineteen  per  1,000  in  1880,  and  for  the 
last  ten  years  has  been  less  than  sixteen  per  1,000. 
According  to  the  opinion  of  those  best  qualified  to  know, 
this  is  largely  due  to  the  introduction  of  what  are  known 
as  Regimental  Institutes,  or  Soldiers'  Clubs,  correspond- 
ing closely  to  the  canteens  which  were  abolished  in  our 
army  a  few  years  ago,  but  which  are  considered  as  im- 
portant a  part  of  the  military  organization  in  India  as  a 


358  MODERN   INDIA 

hospital  or  arsenal.  After  fifty  years  of  experience  in 
India  the  British  mihtary  authorities  gave  up  the  attempt 
to  prohibit  drinking  in  the  army.  Lord  Kitchener  says: 
"You  might  as  well  try  to  hasten  the  millennium."  And 
for  twenty  years  they  have  been  using  various  measures, 
some  of  which  have  proved  practicable  and  others  imprac- 
ticable, to  promote  temperance.  The  result  is  an  almost 
unanimous  conclusion  upon  the  part  of  those  who  have 
given  the  subject  study  that  the  most  effective  means  of 
preventing  intemperance  and  promoting  discipline  and 
morals  are  the  soldiers'  institutes  and  clubs,  in  which 
liquor  is  sold  in  small  quantities  under  strict  regulations 
enforced  by  the  enlisted  men  themselves.  In  other  words, 
they  have  stopped  trying  to  prohibit  drinking  because 
they  found  it  was  impossible,  and  are  now  trying  to  re- 
duce it  to  the  minimum.  The  placing  of  the  regulation 
of  the  liquor  traffic  very  largely  with  the  men  themselves, 
and  removing  the  semblance  of  official  interference  of 
authority,  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  effective  arrange- 
ments, and  the  very  fact  that  drinking  is  not  forbidden 
and  that  liquor  can  be  obtained  at  any  moment  within  a 
few  steps  of  the  barracks  is  of  itself  a  most  wholesome 
influence,  because  it  takes  away  the  desire,  and  all  the 
spirit  of  adventure  and  risk.  As  long  as  human  nature 
is  stubborn  and  contrary,  men  will  do  out  of  pure  mischief 
what  they  are  told  must  not  be  done.  These  matters 
have  a  deep  interest  for  the  viceroy,  Lord  Kitchener, 
the  commander-in-chief,  and  other  prominent  officials  of 
the  army  in  India.  Lord  Kitchener  takes  an  active  part 
in  the  temperance  work  and  in  the  administration  of  the 
soldiers'  institutes,  and  has  had  an  officer  detailed  to  look 
after  their  arrangement  and  management.  Not  long  ago 
the  viceroy  traveled  seven  hundred  miles  to  deliver  an 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  359 

address  at  an  anniversary  of  the  Army  Temperance 
Association. 

Colonel  De  Barthe,  secretary  of  military  affairs  in  the 
cabinet  of  the  viceroy,  to  whom  I  was  sent  for  informa- 
tion on  this  subject,  said :  "The  lives  of  the  British 
soldiers  in  India  are  very  tedious  and  trying,  especially 
during  the  hot  summers,  which,  in  the  greater  part  of  the 
empire,  last  for  several  months.  The  climate  is  enervat- 
ing and  is  apt  to  reduce  moral  as  well  as  physical  vitality. 
There  are  few  diversions.  The  native  quarters  of  the 
large  cities  are  dreadful  places,  especially  for  young 
foreigners.  I  cannot  conceive  of  worse,  from  both  a 
sanitary  and  a  moral  point  of  view.  But  they  have  a  cer- 
tain novelty ;  they  are  picturesque  and  oftentimes  attrac- 
tive and  entertaining  to  homesick  soldiers,  who,  as  is 
natural,  yield  easily  to  temptations  to  dissipation. 

"And  the  best  remedy  is  to  furnish  counter  attractions 
and  give  the  men  resorts  that  are  comfortable  and  at- 
tractive, where  they  will  not  be  subject  to  the  restraint  of 
authority  or  come  in  contact  with  their  officers  too  often. 
The  government,  as  well  as  philanthropic  societies,  is 
doing  everything  that  it  can  to  provide  such  places,  to 
protect  the  enlisted  man  as  far  as  possible  from  the  temp- 
tations to  which  he  is  subjected,  and  to  furnish  him  a 
loafing  place  where  he  will  feel  at  home,  where  he  may 
do  as  he  likes  to  all  reasonable  limits,  and  where  he  can 
obtain  a  moderate  amount  of  pure  liquor  without  feeling 
that  he  is  violating  regulations  and  subjecting  himself  to 
punishment. 

"We  formerly  had  bars  at  which  soldiers  could  buy 
pure  liquor,  instead  of  the  poisonous  stuff  that  is  sold 
them  in  the  native  quarters  of  Indian  cities,  but  we  soon 
concluded  that  they  defeated  their  own  purposes.     Being 


36o  MODERN   INDIA 

situated  at  convenient  locations,  soldiers  would  patronize 
them  for  the  love  of  liquor,  and  induce  others  to  do  the 
same  for  the  sake  of  companionship.  This  promoted  in- 
temperance, because  the  soldiers  went  to  the  bar  only  to 
drink,  and  for  no  other  reason.  There  were  no  reading- 
rooms  or  loafing  places  or  attractive  surroundings,  and 
they  were  not  permitted  to  remain  at  the  bar  after  they 
had  been  served  with  one  drink. 

"Those  bars  have  been  abolished,  and,  under  the  pres- 
ent system,  an  effort  is  being  made  to  furnish  homelike, 
attractive  club-houses,  where  the  enlisted  men  may  pass 
their  leisure  time  in  comfortable  chairs,  with  pleasant 
surroundings,  games,  newspapers,  magazines,  books, 
writing  materials  and  a  well-filled  library.  We  give  them 
a  lunch-room  and  a  bar  which  are  much  more  attractive 
than  any  of  the  native  bazaars  can  offer.  The}'  are  al- 
lowed to  drink  liquor  on  the  premises  in  moderation,  and 
the  regulations  of  the  institute  are  enforced  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  men  themselves,  which  appeals  to  their 
honor,  their  pride  and  their  love  for  their  profession.  A 
drunken  enlisted  man  is  quite  as  much  of  a  humiliation  to 
his  comrades  as  a  drunken  officer  would  be  to  his  asso- 
ciates, and  the  men  feel  quite  as  much  responsibility  in 
restraining  each  other  and  in  preventing  their  comrades 
from  getting  into  trouble  as  their  officers — perhaps  more. 
To  this  spirit,  this  esprit  de  corps,  we  appeal,  and  find 
after  several  years  of  experience  that  the  institutes  pro- 
mote temperance,  health,  discipline  and  contentment 
among  the  men. 

"The  surgeons  of  the  service  will  tell  you,  and  their 
reports  contain  the  details,  that  the  largest  amount  of 
disease  and  the  worst  cases  are  due  to  contact  with  natives 
m  the  bazaars  of  the  cities  near  which  our  barracks  are 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  361 

located.  It  is  impossible  to  keep  the  men  out  of  them, 
and  their  visits  can  only  be  lessened  by  furnishing  counter 
attractions.  The  soldiers'  institutes  have  proved  to  be  the 
strongest  ever  devised.  Anyone  who  knows  India  can 
tell  instantly  where  soldiers'  institutes  have  not  been  es- 
tablished by  examining  the  sick  reports  of  the  officers  of 
the  medical  corps. 

"You  cannot  prevent  men  from  drinking  any  more 
than  you  can  prevent  them  from  swearing  or  indulging 
in  any  other  vice,"  continued  Colonel  De  Barthe,  "but  you 
can  diminish  the  amount  of  vice  by  judicious  measures, 
and  that  we  believe  is  being  done  by  our  institutes,  with 
their  libraries,  reading-rooms,  lunch-rooms,  cafes,  amuse- 
ment-rooms, bars,  theaters  for  concerts,  lectures  and 
amateur  dramatic  performances.  The  government  does 
not  put  in  billiard  tables  or  any  other  kind  of  games.  We 
allow  the  men  to  do  that  for  themselves,  and  they  pay 
for  them  out  of  the  profits  of  the  bar.  Nor  do  we  furnish 
newspapers.  We  require  the  soldiers  to  subscribe  for 
themselves.  There  is  a  good  reason  for  this  which 
should  be  obvious  to  everyone  who  has  ever  had  experi- 
ence in  such  matters.  We  furnish  the  building,  provide 
the  furniture,  fuel,  lights,  fill  the  shelves  of  the  library 
with  excellent  standard  books  of  history,  travels,  biogra- 
phy, fiction  and  miscellaneous  works,  and  have  a  way 
of  shifting  the  books  between  stations  occasionally,  so 
that  the  men  will  not  always  have  the  same  titles  before 
their  eyes.  We  furnish  a  piano  for  the  amusement  hall, 
and  all  of  the  permanent  fixtures  of  the  place,  but  the 
men  are  required  to  do  their  share,  which  gives  them 
personal  interest  in  the  institute,  increases  their  respon- 
sibility and  takes  away  much  of  the  official  atmosphere. 
If  we  should  provide  magazines  and  newspapers  they 


362  MODERN  INDIA 

would  not  be  so  well  satisfied  with  them.  There  would 
always  be  more  or  less  grumbling  and  criticism.  Hence 
it  is  better  for  them  to  make  their  own  choice.  If  we 
should  provide  crockery  and  glassware  for  the  refresh- 
ment-rooms it  would  be  more  frequently  broken.  The 
same  rule  prevails  in  other  matters,  and,  what  is  still 
more  important,  we  want  to  remove  as  much  of  the  offi- 
cial relation  as  possible.  The  management  of  the  insti- 
tute is  in  the  hands  of  soldiers,  under  the  supervision  of 
officers,  who  simply  act  as  checks  or  as  inspectors  to  see 
that  things  go  straight. 

"We  encourage  the  men  to  organize  singing  clubs, 
amateur  theatricals  and  other  entertainments  in  which 
they  take  a  great  interest  and  considerable  talent  is  some- 
times developed.  They  have  their  own  committees  look- 
ing after  these  things,  which  is  a  healthful  diversion ;  and 
the  institute  is  the  headquarters  of  all  their  sporting  or- 
ganizations and  committees.  The  officers  of  the  barracks 
never  go  there  unless  they  are  invited,  but  when  the  men 
give  an  entertainment  every  officer  and  his  family  attend 
and  furnish  as  much  assistance  as  possible." 

Colonel  De  Barthe  showed  me  the  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  these  institutes,  which  may  be  found  in  paragraph 
658  of  the  Army  Regulations  for  India,  and  begin  with 
the  words:  "In  order  to  promote  the  comfort  and  pro- 
vide for  the  rational  amusement  of  noncommissioned  offi- 
cers and  men,  to  supply  them  with  good  articles  at  reason- 
able prices  and  to  organize  and  maintain  the  means  for  in- 
door recreation,  a  regimental  institute  shall  be  provided," 
etc.  It  is  then  provided  that  there  shall  be  a  library, 
reading-rooms,  games  and  recreation-rooms,  a  theater  or 
entertainment  hall,  a  refreshment-room  and  a  separate 
room  for  the  use  of  and  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  363 

of  the  Army  Temperance  Association.  The  reading-room 
is  to  be  furnished  with  a  library  and  the  amusement-room 
with  a  piano ;  card  playing  is  permitted  in  the  recreation- 
room,  but  not  for  money  or  other  stakes  of  value;  the 
discussion  of  religious  and  political  subjects  within  the 
institute  is  forbidden,  and  religious  exercises  are  not 
allowed  to  be  conducted  in  the  building  except  in  the 
room  of  the  Army  Temperance  Association. 

Every  noncommissioned  officer  and  private  is  entitled 
to  the  use  of  the  institute  except  when  excluded  for  pro- 
fane or  other  improper  language,  for  intoxication  or  other 
misconduct,  for  such  time  as  the  committee  in  charge  shall 
deem  advisable.  The  management  of  the  institute  is 
entrusted  to  several  committees  of  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  and  an  advisory  committee  of  three  or 
more  officers.  These  committees  have  control  of  all  sup- 
plies, receipts  and  expenditures,  the  preservation  of  order, 
the  enforcement  of  the  rules,  and  are  enjoined  to  make 
the  institute  as  attractive  as  possible.  A  committee  of 
three,  of  whom  the  chairman  must  be  a  sergeant,  is 
authorized  to  purchase  supplies ;  an  inventory  of  the  stock 
must  be  taken  once  a  month ;  there  may  be  a  co-operative 
store  if  deemed  advisable  by  the  commanding  officer,  at 
which  groceries,  provisions  and  general  merchandise  may 
be  sold  to  the  men  at  cost  price ;  liquor  may  be  sold  in  a 
separate  room  of  limited  dimensions,  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  committee  of  which  a  sergeant  is  chairman, 
and  that  committee,  by  assigning  good  reasons,  has  the 
power  to  forbid  its  sale  to  any  person  for  any  length  of 
time.  No  spirituous  liquor  except  rum  can  be  kept  or 
sold ;  that  must  be  of  the  best  quality  and  no  more  than 
one  dram  may  be  sold  to  any  person  within  the  hour,  and 
only  one  quart  of  malt   liquor.     Beside  these,   aerated 


364  MODERN  INDIA 

waters  and  other  "soft  drinks"  must  be  provided,  witli 
coffee,  tea,  sandwiches  and  other  refreshments  as  re- 
quired. The  profits  of  the  institute  may  be  devoted  to 
the  Hbrary,  reading-room  and  recreation  department,  the 
purchase  of  g>mnastic  apparatus,  etc.,  and  articles  for  the 
soldiers'  mess,  and  may  be  contributed  to  the  widows  and 
orphans'  fund,  if  so  determined  by  the  patrons  of  the 
institution. 

Those,  in  short,  are  the  means  used  by  the  Indian  gov- 
ernment to  promote  temperance  and  morality  in  its  army, 
and  everyone  who  has  experience  and  knowledge  of  the 
practical  operation  of  such  affairs  approves  them.  In 
addition  to  the  institutes  described,  the  Army  Temper- 
ance Association,  which  is  entirely  unofficial  and  com- 
posed of  benevolent  people  in  private  life,  has  established 
in  several  of  the  large  cities  of  India,  where  garrisons 
are  stationed,  soldiers'  clubs,  which  also  prove  very 
efficacious.  They  are  located  in  the  bazaars  and  other 
parts  of  the  cities  frequented  by  soldiers  and  where  the 
most  mischief  is  usually  done.  They  are  clubs  pure  and 
simple,  with  reading  and  writing-rooms,  games,  music, 
restaurants,  billiard-rooms  and  bars  at  which  rum,  beer, 
ale  and  other  liquors  are  sold.  There  is  also  a  devotional- 
room,  in  which  religious  meetings  are  held  at  stated 
times.  These  clubs  are  managed  by  private  individuals 
in  connection  with  committees  of  noncommissioned  offi- 
cers and  enlisted  men,  and  several  of  them  represent  in- 
vestments of  $15,000  and  $20,000.  In  some  cases  a 
small  membership  fee  is  charged.  They  have  proved 
very  effective  in  catching  human  driftwood,  and  provide 
a  place  where  men  who  are  tempted  may  have  another 
chance  to  escape  the  consequences.  They  are  conducted 
upon  a  very  liberal  plan,  and  after  pay  day  soldiers  who 


THE  ARMY  IN  INDIA  365 

start  out  for  a  debauch,  as  so  many  regularly  do,  are 
accustomed  to  leave  their  money  and  valuables  with  the 
person  in  charge  before  plunging  into  the  sinks  of  vice, 
where  so  many  men  find  pleasure  and  diversion. 


XXIII 

MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW,  CAWNPORE 

On  the  way  back  from  the  frontier  are  plenty  of  de- 
hghtful  places  at  which  the  journey  may  be  broken. 
You  can  have  another  glimpse  of  the  most  beautiful  build- 
ing in  the  world  at  Agra,  and  can  take  a  day's  excursion 
to  Muttra,  one  of  the  seven  sacred  cities  of  India,  the 
birthplace  of  Krishna,  second  in  rank  and  popularity  of 
the  Hindu  gods.  The  trains  are  conveniently  arranged ; 
they  take  you  over  from  Agra  in  the  morning  and  bring 
you  back  at  night,  which  is  well,  because  there  is  no 
hotel  at  Muttra,  only  what  they  call  a  dak  bungalow,  or 
lodging-house,  provided  by  the  municipal  authorities  for 
the  shelter  of  travelers  who  have  no  friends  to  put  them 
up.  These  dak  bungalows  are  quite  common  in  India, 
for  comparatively  few  of  the  towns  have  hotels  that  a 
European  or  American  would  care  to  patronize.  In 
Japan  the  native  hotels  are  miracles  of  neatness  and 
sweetness.  In  India,  and  the  rest  of  Asia,  they  are,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  reverse.  I  suppose  it  would  be 
possible  for  a  white  man  to  survive  a  day  or  two  in  a 
native  hotel,  but  the  experience  would  not  be  classified 
as  pleasure.  Several  of  the  native  princes  have  provided 
dak  bungalows  for  public  convenience  and  comfort,  and 
one  or  two  are  so  hospitable  as  to  furnish  strangers  food 
as  well  as  lodging  free  of  cost.  The  maharajas  of 
Baroda,  Jeypore,  Bhartpur,  Gwalior  and  several  other 

366 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  367 

provinces  obey  the  scriptural  injunction  and  have  many 
times  entertained  angels  unawares. 

It  is  an  ancient  custom  for  the  head  of  the  state  or  the 
municipal  authorities  or  the  commercial  organizations  or 
the  priests  to  provide  free  lodgings  for  pilgrims  and 
strangers ;  indeed,  there  are  comparatively  few  hotels  at 
which  natives  are  required  to  pay  bills.  When  a  Hindu 
arrives  in  a  strange  town  he  goes  directly  to  the  temple  of 
his  religion  and  the  priest  directs  him  to  a  place  where 
he  can  stop.  It  is  the  development  of  ancient  patriarchal 
hospitality,  and  the  dak  bungalow,  which  is  provided  for 
European  travelers  in  all  hotelless  towns  and  cities,  is 
simply  a  refinement  of  the  custom.  There  are  usually 
charges,  but  they  are  comparatively  small.  You  are  ex- 
pected to  furnish  your  own  bedding,  towels,  etc.,  and 
there  are  no  wire  spring  mattresses.  Sometimes  iron 
cots  are  provided  and  often  bunks  are  built  in  the  wall. 
If  there  are  none  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  wrap  the 
drapery  of  your  couch  around  you  and  select  a  soft  place 
on  the  floor.  A  floor  does  not  fit  my  bones  as  well  as 
formerly,  but  it  is  an  improvement  upon  standing  or 
sitting  up.  Usually  the  dak  bungalows  are  clean.  Occa- 
sionally they  are  not.  This  depends  upon  the  character 
and  industry  of  the  person  employed  to  attend  them.  The 
charges  are  intended  to  cover  the  expense  of  care  and 
maintenance,  and  are  therefore  very  moderate,  and  every- 
body is  treated  alike. 

After  a  long,  dusty  drive  in  the  suburbs  of  Delhi  one 
day  I  crept  into  the  grateful  shade  of  a  dak  bungalow, 
found  a  comfortable  chair  and  called  for  some  soda  to 
wash  down  the  dust  and  biscuits  to  hold  my  appetite 
down  until  dinner  time.  I  was  sipping  the  cool  drink, 
nibbling  the  biscuits  and  enjoying  the  breeze  that  was 


368  MODERN  INDIA 

blowing  through  the  room,  when  the  attendant  handed 
me  a  board  about  as  big  as  a  shingle  with  a  hole  drilled 
through  the  upper  end  so  that  it  could  be  hung  on  a  wall. 
Upon  the  board  was  pasted  a  notice  printed  in  four  lan- 
guages, English,  German,  French  and  Hindustani,  giving 
the  regulations  of  the  place,  and  the  white-robed  khit- 
matgar  pointed  his  long  brown  finger  to  a  paragraph  that 
applied  to  my  case.  I  paid  him  lo  cents  for  an  hour's 
rest  under  the  roof.  It  was  a  satisfaction  to  do  so.  The 
place  was  clean  and  neat  and  in  every  way  inviting. 

At  many  of  the  railway  stations  beds  are  provided  by 
the  firm  of  caterers  who  have  a  contract  for  running  the 
refreshment-rooms.  Most  of  the  stations  are  neat  and 
comfortable,  and  you  can  always  find  a  place  to  spread 
your  bedding  and  lie  down.  There  is  a  big  room  for 
women  and  a  big  room  for  men.  Sometimes  cots  are 
provided,  but  usually  only  hard  benches  around  the  walls. 
There  are  always  washrooms  and  bathrooms  adjoining, 
which,  of  course,  are  a  great  satisfaction  in  that  hot  and 
perspiring  land.  The  restaurants  at  the  railway  stations 
are  usually  good,  and  are  managed  by  a  famous  caterer 
in  Calcutta,  but  the  men  who  run  the  trains  don't  always 
give  you  time  enough  to  eat. 

On  the  passenger  trains,  ice,  soda  water,  ginger  ale, 
beer  and  other  soft  drinks  are  carried  by  an  agent  of  the 
eating-house  contractor,  who  furnishes  them  for  8  cents 
a  bottle,  and  it  pays  him  to  do  so,  for  an  enormous 
quantity  is  consumed  during  the  hot  weather.  The 
dust  is  almost  intolerable  and  you  cannot  drink  the  local 
water  without  boiling  and  filtering  it.  The  germs  of 
all  kinds  of  diseases  are  floating  around  in  it  at  the  rate 
of  7,000,000  to  a  spoonful.  A  young  lady  who  went 
over  on  the  ship  with  us  didn't  believe  in  any  such  non- 


GROUP    OF    FAMOUS    URAHMIN     PUNDITS 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  369 

sense  and  wasn't  afraid  of  germs.  She  drank  the  local 
water  in  the  tanks  on  the  railway  cars  and  wherever  else 
she  found  it,  and  the  last  we  heard  of  her  she  was  in  a 
hospital  at  Benares  with  a  serious  case  of  dysentery. 

Mark  Twain  says  that  there  is  no  danger  from  germs 
in  the  sacred  water  of  the  Ganges,  because  it  is  so  filthy 
that  no  decent  microbe  will  live  in  it ;  and  that  just  about 
describes  the  situation.  It  is  a  miracle  that  the  deaths 
are  so  few.  Millions  of  people  fill  their  stomachs  from 
that  filthy  stream  day  after  day  because  the  water  washes 
away  their  sins,  and  I  do  not  suppose  there  is  a  dirtier 
river  in  all  the  universe,  nor  one  that  contains  more  con- 
tagion and  filth.  It  receives  the  sewage  of  several  of  the 
largest  cities  of  India.  Dead  bodies  of  human  beings 
as  well  as  animals  can  be  seen  floating  daily.  From  one 
end  of  it  to  the  other  are  burning  ghats  where  the  bodies 
of  the  dead  are  soaked  in  it  before  they  are  placed  upon 
the  funeral  pyres,  and  when  the  bones  and  flesh  are  con- 
sumed the  ashes  are  cast  upon  the  sacred  stream.  But 
the  natives  observe  no  sanitary  laws,  and  the  filth  in 
which  they  live  and  move  and  have  their  being  is  simply 
appalling. 

But  I  started  out  to  tell  you  about  Muttra,  which  is  a 
very  ancient  place.  It  is  mentioned  by  Pliny,  the  Latin 
historian,  Ptolemy,  the  Egyptian  geographer,  and  other 
writers  previous  to  the  Christian  era,  and  is  associated 
with  the  earliest  Aryan  migrations.  Here  Krishna,  the 
divine  herdsman,  was  born.  He  spent  his  childhood 
tending  cattle  in  the  village  of  Gokul,  where  are  the 
ruins  of  several  ancient  temples  erected  in  his  honor,  but, 
although  he  seems  to  have  retained  his  hold  upon  the 
people,  they  have  allowed  them  to  crumble,  and  the  pro- 
fuse adornments  of  the  walls  and  columns  have  been 


370  MODERN  INDIA 

shamefully  defaced.  At  one  time  it  is  said  there  were 
twenty  great  monasteries  at  that  place,  with  several  hun- 
dred monks,  yet  nothing  is  left  of  thcni  but  piles  of  stone 
and  rubbish.  All  have  been  destroyed  in  successive  wars, 
for  Muttra  has  been  the  scene  of  horrible  atrocities  by  the 
Mohammedans  who  have  overrun  the  country  during  sev- 
eral invasions.  Therefore  most  of  the  temples  are  mod- 
ern, and  they  are  too  many  to  count.  There  is  a  succes- 
sion of  them  on  the  banks  of  the  river  the  whole  length 
of  the  city,  interspersed  with  hospices  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  pilgrims,  and  palaces  of  rich  Hindus,  who  go 
there  occasionally  to  wash  away  their  sins,  just  as  the 
high  livers  of  London  go  to  Homburg  and  Carlsbad  to 
restore  their  digestions.  One  of  the  palaces  connected 
with  the  temple,  built  of  fine  white  stone  in  modern  style, 
belongs  to  Lakshman  Das,  a  Hindu  who  the  guide  told 
us  is  the  richest  man  in  India.  The  many  merchants  of 
Muttra  all  seem  prosperous.  The  city  is  visited  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  pilgrims  every  year,  all  of  whom 
bring  in  more  or  less  money,  and  the  houses  and  shops 
are  of  a  more  permanent  and  imposing  order  of  archi- 
tecture than  those  of  Delhi,  Agra  and  other  places.  It 
has  the  appearance  of  being  a  rich  community. 

The  shade  trees  along  the  streets  swarm  with  monkeys 
and  parrots,  which  are  sacred,  and  when  you  go  there 
you  mustn't  jump  if  a  grinning  monkey  drops  down  upon 
your  shoulders  in  a  most  casual  manner  and  chatters  in 
your  ear.  The  animals  are  very  tame.  They  are  fed 
by  the  pilgrims,  who  gain  great  merit  with  the  gods 
thereby,  and  the  river  is  filled  with  sacred  turtles,  which 
are  also  objects  of  great  interest  and  devotion. 

Only  two  towns  in  India  are  more  sacred  than  Muttra. 
One  is  Benares  and  the  other  is  Jagernath,  or  Juggernaut, 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  371 

which  is  about  150  miles  south  of  Calcutta  on  the  shore  of 
the  Bay  of  Bengal.  There  is  the  great  idol  which  we 
have  all  heard  about  from  the  missionaries,  and,  I  regret 
to  say,  some  have  been  guilty  of  a  good  deal  of  misrepre- 
sentation and  exaggeration.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  read 
m  Sunday-school  books  the  most  heart-tearing  tales  about 
the  poor  heathen,  who  cast  themselves  down  before  the 
car  of  Juggernaut  and  were  crushed  to  Hfeless  pulp  under 
its  monstrous  wheels.  This  story  has  been  told  thousands 
of  times  to  millions  of  horrified  listeners,  but  an  inquiry 
into  the  facts  does  not  confirm  it.  It  is  true  that  on  cer- 
tain holy  days  the  great  image  of  Juggernaut,  or  Jager- 
nath,  whichever  way  you  choose  to  spell  it,  and  it  weighs 
many  tons,  is  placed  upon  a  car  and  the  car  is  drawn 
through  the  crowded  streets  by  thousands  of  pilgrims, 
who  cast  flowers,  rice,  wheat,  palm  leaves,  bamboo  wisps, 
sweetmeats  and  other  offerings  in  its  way.  Occasionally 
in  the  throng  that  presses  around  the  image  some  one  is 
thrown  down  and  has  the  life  trampled  out  of  him ;  on 
several  occasions  people  have  been  caught  by  the  wheels 
or  the  frame  of  the  car  and  crushed,  and  at  rare  intervals 
some  hysterical  worshiper  has  fallen  in  a  fit  of  epilepsy 
or  exhaustion  and  been  run  over,  but  the  official  records, 
which  began  in  18 18,  show  only  nine  such  occurrences 
during  the  last  eighty-six  years. 

I  have  great  respect  for  missionaries,  but  I  wish  some 
of  them  would  be  more  charitable  in  disposition,  a  little 
more  accurate  in  statement,  and  not  print  so  much  trash. 
In  Muttra  you  have  a  good  illustration  of  their  usefulness. 
The  American  Methodists  commenced  work  there  in 
1887.  No  educational  or  evangelical  work  had  ever  been 
attempted  previous  to  that  time,  but  the  men  and  women 
who  came  were  wise,  tactful  and  industrious,  and  th^ 


372  MODERN  INDIA 

result  may  be  seen  in  a  dozen  or  more  schools,  with  sev- 
eral thousand  pupils,  a  flourishing,  self-supporting  church, 
a  medical  mission,  a  deaconesses'  home  and  training 
school,  a  printing  establishment  and  bookshop  which  is 
self-supporting  and  a  large  number  of  earnest,  intelligent 
converts.  Wherever  you  go  in  heathen  lands  you  will 
find  that  wisdom,  judgment,  tact  and  ability,  when  applied 
in  any  direction,  always  show  good  results,  but  all  mis- 
sionaries, I  regret  to  say,  are  not  endowed  with  those 
qualities  or  with  what  Rev.  Dr.  Hepburn  of  Japan  calls 
"sanctified  common  sense,"  and  the  consequences  are 
sometimes  deplorable. 

"By  their  works  ye  shall  know  them." 

At  Aligarh,  a  town  of  50,000  inhabitants  on  the  railway 
between  Agra  and  Delhi,  is  a  very  rare  and  indeed  a 
unique  institution — a  Moslem  university  and  printing 
press — the  only  ones  in  India,  and  the  only  ones  in  the 
world  established  and  conducted  on  modern  lines.  The 
university  is  modeled  upon  the  English  plan.  It  has  an 
English  president  and  dean  and  several  English  profess- 
ors, all  of  them  graduates  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge. The  preparatory  school  has  an  English  head 
master  and  assistant,  and  in  the  faculty  is  a  professor  of 
physical  culture,  who  has  brought  manly  sports  among 
the  students  to  a  standard  unequaled  elsewhere  in  India. 
The  Aligarh  University  has  the  best  football  team  and 
the  best  cricket  team  in  the  empire. 

This  remarkable  institution  was  founded  in  1875  by  Sir 
Syed  Ahmed  Khan,  a  Mohammedan  lawyer  and  judge 
on  the  civil  bench,  for  the  education  of  his  co-religionists 
in  order  that  they  may  take  places  in  the  world  beside 
the  graduates  of  English  and  European  universities  and 
exercise   a    similar   influence.      He   recognized    that   the 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  373 

Moslem  population  of  India  must  degenerate  unless  it 
was  educated ;  that  it  could  not  keep  pace  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  He  was  shocked  at  the  ignorance  and  the 
bigotry  of  his  fellow  Mohammedans  and  at  their  stubborn 
conservatism.  He  was  a  sincere  believer  in  his  own  re- 
ligion, and  insisted  that  the  faith  of  Islam,  properly  under- 
stood, was  as  much  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  progress 
in  every  branch  of  human  knowledge  and  activity  as  the 
Christian  religion,  and  he  devoted  his  entire  fortune  and 
collected  contributions  from  rich  Mohammedans  for  the 
establishment  of  a  school  that  should  be  entirely  up-to- 
date  and  yet  teach  the  Koran  and  the  ancient  traditions 
of  Islam.  There  are  now  about  500  students,  who  come 
from  the  most  important  families  in  India.  They  live 
together  in  dormitories  built  about  the  college,  dine  in 
the  same  refectory  and  enjoy  a  healthy,  active  college  life. 
Foreign  and  Christian  professors  fill  the  chairs  of  science, 
mathematics  and  languages,  while  able  mullahs  give  in- 
struction in  the  Koran  and  direct  the  students  in  the 
daily  exercise  of  the  Mohammedan  rites. 

Sir  Syed  Ahmed  Khan  met  with  bitter  opposition  and 
animosity  from  the  conservative  element  of  his  faith,  and 
while  some  of  his  opponents  admitted  the  purity  and  nobil- 
ity of  his  motive,  he  was  often  accused  of  apostasy,  but  his 
noble  life  was  spared  until  March,  1898,  and  he  was  per- 
mitted to  see  his  institution  enjoying  great  popularity  and 
usefulness.  There  is  at  present  a  movement  among  the 
Mohammedans  of  India  for  the  higher  education  of  the 
members  of  that  sect.  It  is  the  fruit  of  his  labors  and  the 
men  who  are  leading  it  are  graduates  of  the  Aligarh 
College. 

Lucknow  and  Cawnpore  are  usually  neglected  by 
American  travelers,  but  are  sacred  objects  of  pilgrimage 


374  AIODERN   INDIA 

to  all  Englishmen  because  of  their  terrible  memories  of  the 
awful  struggles  of  the  mutiny  of  the  sepoys,  or  native 
soldiers,  in  1857,  ^"d  their  heroic  defense  and  heroic 
relief  by  a  handful  of  British  troops  under  Sir  Henry 
Havelock,  General  James  Outram  and  Sir  Colin  Camp- 
bell. Although  more  has  been  written  about  Lucknow, 
yet  the  tragedy  of  Cawnpore  is  to  me  the  more  thrilling 
in  several  particulars,  and  that  city  was  the  scene  of  the 
greater  agony. 

Upon  the  shores  of  the  Ganges  River  is  a  pretty  park 
of  sixty  acres,  in  the  center  of  which  rises  a  mound. 
That  mound  covers  the  site  of  a  well  in  which  the  bodies 
of  250  of  the  victims  of  the  massacre  were  cast.  It  is 
inclosed  by  a  Gothic  wall,  and  in  the  center  stands  a 
beautiful  figure  of  an  angel  in  white  marble  by  an  Italian 
artist.  Her  arms  are  crossed  upon  her  breast  and  in  each 
hand  she  holds  a  palm  branch.     The  archway  is  inscribed : 

"These  are  They  which  Came 
Out  of  Great  Tribulation." 

Chiseled  in  the  wall  that  marks  the  circle  of  the  well 
are  these  words: 

"Sacred  to  the  Perpetual  Memory  of  a  great  Company 
of  Christian  people,  chiefly  Women  and  Children,  who 
near  this  Spot  were  cruelly  Murdered  by  the  Followers 
of  the  Rebel  Nana  Dhundu  Panth  of  Bithur,  and  cast, 
the  Dying  with  the  Dead,  into  the  Well  below  on  the 
XVth'day  of  July,  MDCCCLVII." 

The  story  of  Cawnpore  has  no  parallel  in  history.  It 
might  have  been  repeated  at  Peking  two  or  three  years 
ago,  for  the  conditions  existed  there.  In  the  summer  of 
1857  sixty-one  English  artillerymen  and  about  3,000 
sepoys  were  attached  to  the  garrison  at  that  place,  where 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  375 

about  800  foreigners  resided.  Upon  the  6th  of  June  the 
native  troops  rose  in  mutiny,  sacked  the  paymaster's  office 
and  burned  several  of  the  pubHc  buildings.  The  fright- 
ened foreigners  fled  into  one  of  the  larger  buildings  of  the 
government,  where  they  hastily  threw  up  fortifications 
and  resisted  a  siege  for  three  weeks.  Their  position  hav- 
ing become  untenable,  they  arranged  terms  of  capitulation 
with  Nana  Sahib,  the  leader  of  the  mutiny,  who  had  been 
refused  the  throne  and  the  allowance  paid  by  the  British 
government  to  the  late  maharaja,  although  the  latter  had 
adopted  him  in  legal  form  and  had  proclaimed  him  his 
heir.  This  was  one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  the 
mutiny,  and  without  considering  the  question  of  justice 
or  injustice.  Nana  Sahib  satiated  his  desire  for  vengeance 
under  the  most  atrocious  circumstances.  Having  ac- 
cepted the  surrender  of  the  little  garrison  upon  his  per- 
sonal assurances  of  their  security  and  safe  conduct  to 
Allahabad,  he  placed  the  survivors,  about  700  in  number, 
in  boats  upon  the  Ganges  River  and  bade  them  good-by. 
As  soon  as  the  last  man  was  on  board  and  the  word  was 
given  to  start  down  the  stream,  the  blast  of  a  bugle  was 
heard.  At  that  signal  the  crews  of  the  boats  leaped  into 
the  water,  leaving  the  passengers  without  oars,  and  im- 
mediately the  straw  roofs  of  the  boats  burst  into  flames 
and  showers  of  bullets  were  fired  from  lines  of  infantry 
drawn  up  on  the  banks.  Most  of  those  who  jumped  into 
the  water  to  escape  the  flames  were  shot  down  by  the 
bullets.  And  many  who  escaped  both  and  endeavored 
to  reach  the  shore  were  sabered  by  cavalrymen  who 
awaited  them.     One  boat  load  escaped. 

The  survivors  of  this  incident,  about  200  in  number, 
were  led  back  into  the  city,  past  their  old  homes,  now  in 
smoldering   ruins,   and   were   locked   up    in   two   rooms 


376  MODERN  INDIA 

twenty  feet  long  and  ten  feet  wide.  They  had  no  beds, 
no  furniture,  no  blankets,  not  even  straw  to  lie  upon. 
They  were  given  one  meal  a  day  of  coarse  bread  and 
water,  and  after  suffering  untold  agonies  for  fifteen  days 
were  called  out  in  squads  and  hacked  to  pieces  by  the 
ruffians  of  Nana's  guard.  Their  bodies  were  cast  into 
the  well,  which  was  afterward  filled  with  earth  and  has 
since  been  the  center  of  a  memorial  park. 

The  siege  of  Lucknow  was  somewhat  different.  When 
the  mutiny  broke  out  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  the  governor, 
concentrated  his  small  force  of  British  soldiers,  with 
eleven  women  and  seven  children,  in  his  residency,  which 
stood  in  the  center  of  a  park  of  sixty  acres.  It  was  a 
pretentious  stone  building,  with  a  superb  portico  and 
massive  walls,  and  protected  by  deep  verandas  of  stone. 
Anticipating  trouble,  he  had  collected  provisions  and  am- 
munition and  was  quite  well  prepared  for  a  siege, 
although  the  little  force  around  him  was  attacked  by 
more  than  30,000  merciless,  bloodthirsty  fanatics.  The 
situation  was  very  much  as  it  was  at  Peking,  only  worse, 
and  the  terrific  fire  that  was  kept  up  by  the  sepoys  may 
be  judged  by  the  battered  stump  of  an  old  tree  which 
still  stands  before  the  ruins  of  the  residency.  Although 
about  three  feet  in  diameter,  it  was  actually  cut  down 
by  bullets. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  siege,  while  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence was  instructing  Captain  Wilson,  one  of  his  aids, 
as  to  the  distribution  of  rations,  a  shell  entered  his  apart- 
ment, exploded  at  his  side  and  gave  him  a  mortal  wound. 
With  perfect  coolness  and  calm  fortitude  he  appointed 
Major  Banks  his  successor,  instructed  him  in  details  as  to 
the  conduct  of  the  defense,  exhorted  the  soldiers  of  the 
garrison  to  their  duty,  pledged  them  never  to  treat  with 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  377 

the  rebels,  and  under  no  circumstances  to  surrender.  He 
gave  orders  that  he  should  be  buried  "without  any  fuss, 
like  a  British  soldier,"  and  that  the  only  epitaph  upon  his 
tombstone  should  be: 

"Here  lies  Henry  Lawrence,  Who  Tried  to  do  his 
Duty ;  May  God  have  Mercy  upon  his  soul." 

He  died  upon  the  Fourth  of  July.  Upon  the  i6th 
Major  Banks,  his  successor  in  command,  was  killed  and 
the  authority  devolved  upon  Captain  Inglis,  whose  widow, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  siege,  died  in  London  Feb.  4, 
1904.  The  deaths  averaged  from  fifteen  to  twenty  daily, 
and  most  of  the  people  were  killed  by  an  African  sharp- 
shooter who  occupied  a  commanding  post  upon  the  roof 
of  a  neighboring  house  and  fired  through  the  windows  of 
the  residency  without  ever  missing  his  victim.  The  sol- 
diers called  him  "Bob  the  Nailer."  The  latter  part  of 
August  he  was  finally  killed,  but  not  until  after  he  had 
shot  dozens  of  men,  women  and  children  among  the  be- 
sieged. In  order  to  protect  themselves  from  his  shots  and 
those  from  other  directions  the  windows  of  the  residency 
were  barricaded,  which  shut  out  all  the  air  and  ventila- 
tion, and  the  heat  became  almost  intolerable.  A  plague 
of  flies  set  in  which  was  so  terrible  that  the  nervous 
women  and  children  frequently  became  frantic  and  hys- 
terical. 

On  the  5th  of  September  a  faithful  native  brought  the 
first  news  that  a  relieving  force  under  Sir  Henry  Have- 
lock  and  General  James  Outram  was  nearing  Lucknow. 
On  the  25th  Havelock  fought  his  way  through  the  streets 
of  the  city,  which  were  packed  with  armed  rebels,  and  on 
the  26th  succeeded  in  reaching  the  residency.  But,  al- 
though the  relief  was  welcome,  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
besieged  were  for  the  moment  forgotten,  it  was  consid- 


378  MODERN   INDIA 

crcd  impracticable  to  attempt  an  evacuation  because  the 
whole  party  would  have  been  massacred  if  they  had  left 
the  walls.  A  young  Irish  clerk  in  the  civil  service,  named 
James  Kavanagh,  undertook  to  carry  a  message  to  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  and  succeeded  in  passing  through  the 
lines  of  the  enemy.  On  the  i6th  of  November  Campbell 
fought  his  way  through  the  streets  with  3,500  men,  and 
the  relief  of  Lucknow  was  finally  effected. 

A  few  days  later  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  the  hero  of  the 
first  relief,  died  from  an  attack  of  dysentery  from  which 
he  had  long  been  suffering,  and  his  body  was  buried 
under  a  wide-spreading  tree  in  the  park.  The  tomb  of 
Havelock  is  a  sacred  spot  to  all  soldiers.  A  lofty  obelisk 
marks  the  resting  place  of  one  of  the  noblest  of  men  and 
one  of  the  bravest  and  ablest  of  soldiers. 

The  residency  is  naturally  a  great  object  of  interest, 
but  the  cemetery,  gay  with  flowers  and  feathery  bamboos, 
is  equally  so,  because  there  lies  the  dust  of  2,000  men  and 
women  who  perished  within  the  residency,  in  the  attempts 
at  relief  and  in  other  battles  and  massacres  in  that  neigh- 
borhood during  the  mutiny. 

Nana  Sahib,  who  was  guilty  of  these  awful  atrocities, 
was  never  punished.  In  the  confusion  and  the  excitement 
of  the  fighting  he  managed  to  make  his  escape,  and  mys- 
teriously disappeared.  It  is  now  known  that  he  took 
refuge  in  the  province  of  Nepal,  where  he  was  given  an 
asylum  by  the  maharaja,  and  remained  secretly  under 
his  protection,  living  in  luxury  for  several  years  until  his 
death.  It  is  generally  believed  that  the  British  authorities 
knew,  or  at  least  suspected,  his  whereabouts,  but  consid- 
ered it  wiser  to  ignore  the  fact  rather  than  excite  a  con- 
troversy and  perhaps  a  war  with  a  powerful  native 
province. 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  379 

There  is  little  of  general  interest  in  Cawnpore.  Luck- 
now,  however,  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  busy 
towns  in  India,  The  people  are  wealthy  and  enterprising. 
It  has  probably  more  rich  natives  than  any  other  city  of 
India  except  Bombay,  and  their  houses  are  costly  and 
extravagant,  but  in  very  bad  architectural  taste.  Mil- 
lions of  dollars  have  been  spent  in  tawdry  decorations  and 
ugly  walls,  but  they  are  partially  redeemed  by  beautiful 
parks  and  gardens.  Lucknow  has  the  reputation  of  being 
the  home  of  the  Mohammedan  aristocracy  in  India,  and 
a  large  number  of  its  wealthiest  and  most  influential  citi- 
zens belong  to  that  faith.  Their  cathedral  mosque  is  one 
of  the  finest  in  the  country.  The  imambra  connected 
with  it  is  a  unique  structure  and  contains  the  largest  room 
in  the  world  without  columns,  being  162  feet  long  by  54 
feet  wide,  and  53  feet  high.  It  was  built  in  1784,  the  year 
of  the  great  famine,  in  order  to  give  labor  and  wages  to  a 
hungry  people,  and  is  one  solid  mass  of  concrete  of  simple 
form  and  still  simpler  construction. 

The  architect  first  made  a  mold  or  centering  of  timber, 
bricks  and  earth,  which  was  covered  with  several  layers 
of  rubble  and  coarse  concrete  several  feet  in  thickness. 
After  it  had  been  allowed  a  year  or  two  to  set  and  dry,  the 
mold  or  centering  was  removed,  and  this  immense  struc- 
ture, whose  exterior  dimensions  are  263  by  145  feet,  stood 
as  solid  as  a  rock,  a  single  piece  of  cement  literally  cast 
in  a  mold,  and,  although  it  has  been  standing  125  years,  it 
shows  no  signs  of  decay  or  deterioration.  The  word  im- 
ambra signifies  "the  patriarch's  palace,"  The  big  room 
is  used  for  the  celebration  of  the  Moslem  feast  of  Mohur- 
ram,  which  commemorates  the  martyrdom  of  the  sons  of 
Ali,  the  immediate  descendants  of  Mahomet, 

The  royal  palaces  of  Lucknow,  formerly  occupied  by 


38o  MODERN   INDIA 

the  native  kings,  are  considered  the  worst  architecture  of 
India,  although  they  represent  the  expenditure  of  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  But  the  hotels  are  the  best  in  all  the 
empire,  except  the  new  one  of  which  I  have  spokeii  in 
Bombay.  For  this  reason  and  because  it  is  a  beautiful 
city,  travelers  find  it  to  their  comfort  and  advantage  to 
stop  there  for  several  days  longer  than  they  would  stay 
elsewhere,  and  enjoy  driving  about  the  country  visiting 
the  different  parks  and  gardens. 

One  of  the  most  novel  excursions  in  India  may  be  made 
to  the  headquarters  of  the  commissariat  department  of 
the  army,  about  three  miles  out  of  town,  where  a  herd  of 
elephants  is  used  for  heavy  lifting  and  transportation  pur- 
poses. The  intelligence,  patience  and  skill  of  the  great 
beasts  are  extraordinary.  They  are  fed  on  "chow  patties," 
a  mixture  of  hay,  grains  and  other  forage,  and  are  al- 
lowed a  certain  number  for  each  meal.  Each  elephant 
always  counts  his  as  soon  as  they  are  delivered  to  him, 
and  if  spectators  are  present  the  guardkeepers  frequently 
give  them  a  short  allowance,  whereupon  they  make  a  ter- 
rible fuss  until  they  get  what  they  are  entitled  to. 

There  are  some  quaint  customs  among  the  farmers  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  The  evil  eye  is  as  common  and 
as  much  dreaded  as  in  Italy,  and  people  who  are  sus- 
pected of  that  misfortune  are  frequently  murdered  by  un- 
known hands  to  rid  the  community  of  a  common  peril 
and  nuisance. 

Good  and  bad  omens  occur  hourly;  superstitions  are 
as  prevalent  as  in  Spain.  If  a  boy  be  born,  for  example, 
a  net  is  hung  over  the  doorway  and  a  fire  is  lighted  upon 
the  threshold  to  prevent  evil  spirits  from  entering  the 
house. 

The  commencement  of  the  farming  season  is  celebrated 


MUTTRA,  ALIGARH,  LUCKNOW  381 

with  ceremonies.  The  first  furrow  in  the  village  is 
plowed  by  a  committee  of  farmers  from  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  plow  is  first  worshiped  and  decorated.  The 
bullock  or  camel  which  draws  it  is  covered  with  garlands 
of  flowers,  bright-colored  pieces  of  cloth  and  rosettes  of 
ribbon  are  braided  into  its  tail  and  hung  upon  its  horns. 
Behind  the  plow  follows  "the  sower,"  who  is  also  dec- 
orated with  flowers  and  ornaments,  has  a  red  mark  upon 
his  forehead  and  his  eyelids  colored  with  lampblack.  He 
drops  seed  into  the  furrow.  Behind  him  comes  a  second 
man,  who  carefully  picks  up  every  grain  that  has  fallen 
outside  of  the  furrow.  When  the  furrow  is  finished  the 
farmers  assemble  at  some  house  in  the  neighborhood  and 
have  a  dinner  of  simple  food.  There  are  similar  cere- 
monies connected  with  the  harvest.  Some  of  them  are 
said  to  be  inherited  from  their  ancient  Aryan  ancestors ; 
others  are  borrowed  from  the  Arabs,  Persians  and 
Chinese. 


XXIV 

CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA 

Everybody  wlio  keeps  in  touch  with  the  slowly  chang- 
ing social  conditions  in  India  is  convinced  that  the  caste, 
the  most  important  fetich  of  the  Hindus,  is  gradually  los- 
ing its  hold,  particularly  upon  the  upper  classes,  because 
they  cannot  adjust  it  to  the  requirements  of  modern  civil- 
ization and  to  the  foreign  customs  they  imitate  and  value 
so  highly.  Very  high  authorities  have  predicted  in  my 
hearing  that  caste  will  be  practically  obsolete  within  the 
next  fifty  years,  and  entirely  disappear  before  the  end  of 
the  century,  provided  the  missionaries  and  other  reform- 
ers will  let  it  alone  and  not  keep  it  alive  by  controversy. 
It  is  a  sacred  fetich,  and  when  it  is  attacked  the  loyal 
Hindu  is  compelled  to  defend  and  justify  it,  no  matter 
what  his  private  opinion  of  its  practicability  and  ad- 
vantages may  be,  but,  if  foreigners  will  ignore  it,  the  pro- 
gressive, cultured  Hindus  will  themselves  discard  it. 
The  influences  of  travel,  official  and  commercial  rela- 
tions, and  social  intercourse  with  foreigners,  personal  am- 
bition for  preferment  in  the  military  and  the  civil  service, 
the  adoption  of  modern  customs  and  other  agencies  are  at 
work  undermining  the  institution,  and  when  a  Hindu 
finds  that  its  laws  interfere  with  his  comfort  or  conven- 
ience, he  is  very  certain  to  ignore  them.  The  experience 
of  the  Maharaja  of  Jeypore,  told  in  a  previous  chapter, 
is  not  unusual.     His  case  is  only  one  of  thousands,  for 

382 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      383 

nearly  every  native  prince  and  wealthy  Hindu  has  broken 
caste  again  and  again  without  suffering  the  slightest  dis- 
advantage, which  has  naturally  made  them  indifferent. 

Travelers  see  very  little  of  this  peculiar  institution,  and 
it  is  so  complicated  that  they  cannot  comprehend  it  with- 
out months  of  study.  They  notice  that  half  the  men  they 
meet  on  the  streets  have  odd  looking  signs  upon  their 
foreheads.  Ryas,  our  bearer,  calls  them  "god  marks," 
but  they  are  entirely  artificial,  and  indicate  the  particular 
deity  which  the  wearer  is  in  the  habit  of  worshiping,  as 
well  as  the  caste  to  which  he  belongs.  A  white  triangle 
means  Krishna,  and  a  red  circle  means  Siva — the  two 
greatest  gods — or  vice  versa,  I  have  forgotten  which,  and 
Hindus  who  are  inclined  to  let  their  light  shine  before 
men  spread  on  these  symbols  with  great  care  and  regular- 
ity. At  every  temple,  every  market  place,  at  the  places 
where  Hindus  go  to  bathe,  at  the  railway  stations,  public 
buildings,  in  the  bazaars,  and  wherever  else  multitudes  are 
accustomed  to  gather,  you  will  find  Brahmins  squatting 
on  a  piece  of  matting  behind  trays  covered  with  little 
bowls  filled  with  different  colored  ochers  and  other 
paints.  These  men  know  the  distinctive  marks  of  all  the 
castes,  and  for  small  fees  paint  the  proper  signs  upon 
the  foreheads  of  their  patrons,  who  wear  them  with  great 
pride.  You  frequently  see  them  upon  children  also ;  and 
on  holidays  and  religious  anniversaries,  when  the  people 
come  out  for  pleasure,  or  during  special  ceremonials  at 
their  temples,  nearly  everybody  wears  a  "god  mark,"  just 
as  he  would  wear  a  badge  denoting  his  regiment  and 
corps  at  a  Grand  Army  reunion. 

The  more  you  study  the  question  of  caste  the  more 
confusing  it  becomes,  but  it  is  interesting  and  important 
because  it  is  the  peculiar  institution  of  India  and  is  not 


384  MODERN  INDIA 

found  in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Tlie  number  of 
castes  is  almost  infinite.  The  200,000,000  or  more  Hin- 
dus in  this  empire  are  divided  into  a  vast  number  of  in- 
dependent, well-organized  and  unchangeable  groups, 
which  are  separated  by  wide  differences,  who  cannot  eat 
together  or  drink  from  the  same  vessel  or  sit  at  the  same 
table  or  intermarry.  There  have  been,  and  still  are,  em- 
inent and  learned  philosophers  and  social  scientists  who 
admire  caste  as  one  of  the  highest  agencies  of  social  per- 
fection, and  they  argue  that  it  alone  has  prevented  the 
people  of  India  from  relapsing  into  barbarism,  but 
foreigners  in  general  and  Christian  missionaries  in  partic- 
ular take  a  very  different  view,  and  many  thoughtful  and 
patriotic  Hindus  publicly  declare  that  it  is  the  real  and 
only  cause  of  the  wretched  condition  of  their  people  and 
the  greatest  obstacle  to  their  progress.  Mr.  Shoshee 
Chunder  Dutt,  a  very  learned  Hindu  and  author  of  a 
standard  book  entitled  "India,  Past  and  Present,"  declares 
that  "civilization  has  been  brought  to  a  standstill  by  its 
mischievous  restrictions,  and  there  is  no  hope  of  its  being- 
remedied  until  those  restrictions  are  removed." 

It  is  curious  to  learn  that  the  word  "caste"  is  not 
Hindu  at  all,  but  Portuguese,  and  that  instead  of  being 
an  ancient  feature  of  the  Hindu  religion,  it  is  compara- 
tively a  modern  idea. 

The  first  form  of  religion  in  India  was  the  worship  of 
nature,  and  the  chief  gods  of  the  people  were  the  sun, 
fire,  water  and  other  natural  phenomena,  which  were  in- 
terpreted to  the  ignorant  masses  by  priests,  who  gradually 
developed  what  is  now  called  Brahminism,  and,  in  the 
course  of  time,  for  social  reasons,  divided  the  people  into 
four  classes:  First,  the  Brahmins,  which  include  the 
priestly,  the  literary  and  the  ruling  portions  of  the  popu- 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    385 

lation ;  second,  the  Kshatryas,  or  warriors,  who  were  like 
the  knighthoods  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages ;  then  the 
Vaisyas,  or  landowners,  the  farming  population,  and 
those  engaged  in  mercantile  and  manufacturing  indus- 
tries; and  finally  the  Sudras,  or  servants  who  attended 
the  other  castes,  toiled  in  the  fields  and  did  the  heavy 
labor  of  the  community. 

Gradually  these  grand  divisions  became  divided  into 
sections  or  social  groups.  Trades,  professions,  tribes  and 
clans,  and  particularly  those  who  worshiped  the  same 
god,  naturally  drifted  together  and  were  watchful  of  their 
mutual  interests.  As  there  are  as  many  gods  in  the 
Hindu  pantheon  as  there  are  inhabitants  of  India,  these 
religious  associations  are  very  numerous.  Occupation  is 
not  a  sign  of  caste.  Every  caste,  and  particularly  the 
Brahmins,  have  members  in  every  possible  occupation. 
Nearly  every  cook  in  India  is  a  Brahmin,  which  is  a  mat- 
ter of  almost  imperative  necessity,  because  no  man  can 
partake  of  food  cooked  or  even  touched  by  persons  of 
lower  caste.  The  Brahmins  are  also  more  numerous  than 
any  other  caste.  According  to  the  recent  census  they 
number  14,888,000,  adult  men  only  being  counted.  The 
soldier  caste  numbers  more  than  10,000,000,  the  farmer 
caste  and  the  leather  workers  have  nearly  as  many. 
Nearly  20  per  cent  of  the  population  of  India  is  included 
in  those  four  castes,  and  there  are  forty  or  fifty  sub-castes, 
each  having  more  than  1,000,000  members. 

There  are  more  than  1,800  groups  of  Brahmins,  who 
have  become  so  numerous  and  so  influential  that  they  are 
found  everywhere.  The  number  in  the  public  service  is 
very  large,  representing  about  35  per  cent  of  the  entire 
mass  of  employes  of  the  government  in  every  capacity 
and  station,  and  they  have  the  largest  proportion  of  edu- 


386  MODERN  INDIA 

cated  men.  It  is  a  popular  delusion  that  every  Brahmin 
is  a  priest,  when  the  fact  is  that  they  are  so  numerous  that 
not  more  than  a  small  percentage  is  employed  in  religious 
functions.  But  for  more  than  2,000  years  they  have 
maintained  their  superiority  unchallenged.  This  is  not 
only  due  to  their  pretensions,  but  to  their  intellectual 
force.  They  have  been  the  priests,  the  writers,  the  rulers, 
the  legislators  of  all  India,  because  of  their  force  of  char- 
acter and  mental  attainments,  and  will  always  preserve 
their  supremacy  through  the  same  forces  that  enabled 
them  to  acquire  it. 

The  laws  of  caste,  as  explained  by  Mr.  Shoshee  Chun- 
der  Dutt,  the  Hindu  writer  referred  to  above,  provide : 

1.  That  individuals  cannot  be  married  who  do  not  be- 
long to  the  same  caste. 

2.  That  a  man  may  not  sit  down  to  eat  with  another 
who  is  not  of  his  own  caste. 

3.  That  his  meals  must  be  cooked  either  by  persons  of 
his  own  caste  or  a  Brahmin. 

4.  That  no  man  of  an  inferior  caste  is  to  touch  his 
cooked  rations,  or  the  dishes  in  which  they  are  served,  or 
even  to  enter  his  cook  room. 

5.  That  no  water  or  other  liquid  contaminated  by  the 
touch  of  a  man  of  inferior  caste  can  be  made  use  of — 
rivers,  tanks  and  other  large  sheets  of  water  being,  how- 
ever, held  to  be  incapable  of  defilement. 

6.  That  articles  of  dry  food,  excepting  rice,  wheat,  etc., 
do  not  become  impure  by  passing  through  the  hands  of 
a  man  of  inferior  caste  so  long  as  they  remain  dry,  but 
cannot  be  taken  if  they  get  wet  or  greased. 

7.  That  certain  prohibited  articles,  such  as  cows'  flesh, 
pork,  fowls,  etc.,  are  not  to  be  taken. 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    387 

8.  That  the  ocean  or  any  other  of  the  boundaries  of 
India  cannot  be  crossed  over. 

The  only  acts  which  now  lead  to  exclusion  from  castes 
are  the  following: 

1.  Embracing   Christianity   or   Mohammedanism. 

2.  Going  to  Europe,  America  or  any  other  foreign 
country. 

3.  Marrying  a  widow. 

4.  Throwing  away  the  sacred  thread. 

5.  Eating  beef,  pork  or  fowl. 

6.  Eating  food  cooked  by  a  Mohammedan,  Christian 
or  low  caste  Hindu. 

7.  Officiating  as  priest  in  the  house  of  a  low  caste 
Sudra. 

8.  By  a  female  going  away  from  home  for  an  immoral 
purpose. 

9.  By  a  widow  becoming  pregnant. 

When  a  Hindu  is  excluded  from  caste  his  friends,  rela- 
tives and  fellow  townsmen  refuse  to  partake  of  his  hos- 
pitality ;  he  is  not  invited  to  entertainments  in  their 
houses ;  he  cannot  obtain  wives  or  husbands  for  his  chil- 
dren ;  even  his  own  married  daughters  cannot  visit  him 
without  running  the  risk  of  being  excluded  from  caste ; 
his  priest  and  even  his  barber  and  washerman  refuse  to 
serve  him ;  his  fellow  caste  men  ostracize  him  so  com- 
pletely that  they  refuse  to  assist  him  even  in  sickness  or 
at  the  funeral  of  a  member  of  his  household.  In  some 
cases  the  man  excluded  from  caste  is  debarred  from  the 
public  temples. 

To  deprive  a  man  of  the  services  of  his  barber  and  his 
washerman  is  becoming  more  difficult  these  days,  but  the 
other  penalties  are  enforced  with  more  or  less  rigor. 

They  tell  us  that  foreigners  cannot  appreciate  the  im- 


388  MODERN  INDIA 

portance  of  caste.  Murray's  guide  book  ^varns  the  trav- 
eler to  remember  that  fact,  and  says  that  the  religion  of 
the  Hindu  amounts  to  little  more  than  the  fear  of  de- 
mons, of  the  loss  of  caste  and  of  the  priests.  Demons 
have  to  be  propitiated,  the  caste  rules  are  strictly  kept  and 
the  priests  presented  with  gifts.  Great  care  has  to  be 
taken  not  to  eat  food  cooked  by  a  man  of  inferior  caste ; 
food  cooked  in  water  must  not  be  eaten  together  by  peo- 
ple of  different  castes,  and  castes  are  entirely  separated 
with  regard  to  marriage  and  trade.  A  sacred  thread  of 
cotton  is  worn  by  the  higher  castes.  Washing  in  the 
sacred  rivers,  particularly  the  Ganges,  and  especially  at 
Allahabad,  Benares,  Hardwar  and  other  exceptionally 
holy  spots,  is  of  efficacy  in  preserving  caste  and  cleansing 
the  soul  of  impurities. 

"The  traveler  should  remember,"  says  the  guide  book, 
"that  all  who  are  not  Hindus  are  outcasts,  contact  with 
whom  may  cause  the  loss  of  caste  to  a  Hindu.  He  should 
not  touch  any  cooking  or  water  holding  utensil  belonging 
to  a  Hindu,  nor  disturb  Hindus  when  at  their  meals ;  he 
should  not  molest  cows,  nor  shoot  any  sacred  animal,  and 
should  not  pollute  holy  places  by  his  presence  if  any  ob- 
jection is  made.  The  most  sacred  of  all  animals  is  the 
cow,  then  the  serpent,  and  then  the  monkey.  The  eagle 
is  the  attendant  of  Vishnu,  the  bull  of  Siva,  the  goose  of 
Brahma,  the  elephant  of  Indra,  the  tiger  of  Durga,  the 
buffalo  of  Rama,  the  rat  of  Ganesh,  the  ram  of  Agni,  the 
peacock  of  Kartikkeya,  the  parrot  of  Kama  (the  god  of 
love),  the  fish,  the  tortoise  and  boar  are  incarnations  of 
Vishnu,  and  the  crocodile,  cat,  dog,  crow,  many  trees, 
plants,  stones,  rivers  and  tanks  are  sacred." 

Nevertheless,  Brahmins  are  very  clever  in  dodging  an 
issue  when  it  is  necessary  for  their  convenience.    For  ex- 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    389 

ample,  when  a  modern  water  supply  was  introduced  for 
the  first  time  into  a  city  of  India  the  problem  arose,  How 
could  the  Hindus  use  water  that  came  from  hydrants,  in 
face  of  the  law  which  prohibited  them  drinking  it  from 
vessels  which  may  have  been  touched  by  people  of  an- 
other caste?  After  much  reflection  and  discussion  the 
pundits  decided  that  the  payment  of  water  rates  should  be 
considered  an  atonement  for  violating  the  ordinances  of 
their  religion. 

There  has  been  some  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
women  in  India,  and  it  is  due  almost  entirely  to  the  Chris- 
tian missionaries  who  have  brought  about  reforms  which 
could  not  have  occurred  otherwise,  although,  at  the  same 
time,  the  spirit  of  modern  progress  has  not  been  without 
its  influence  upon  the  native  families.  Remarkable  in- 
stances have  occurred  in  which  native  women  have  at- 
tained distinction  in  literature,  scholarship  and  science. 
Several  have  passed  university  entrance  examinations ;  a 
few  have  obtained  degrees.  In  1903  there  were  264 
women  in  collegiate  institutions  throughout  the  empire, 
more  than  has  ever  been  known  before.  There  has  been 
a  gradual  increase  in  their  number.  In  1893-4  there  were 
only  108;  two  years  later  there  were  no.  In  1898-9  the 
number  jumped  to  174,  and  in  1900-1  it  reached  205, 
hence  you  will  see  that  the  advance  has  been  normal  and 
regular  and  there  have  been  no  steps  backward.  The 
greatest  progress  has  been  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
empire,  where  women  are  less  secluded  and  the 
prejudice  against  their  education  is  not  so  strong.  Never- 
theless 99  per  cent  of  the  women  of  India  are  absolutely 
illiterate,  and  among  the  total  of  144,409,000  only 
1,433,000  can  read  and  write ;  75  per  cent  of  them  can  do 
no  more.    If  a  census  were  taken  of  those  who  can  read 


390  MODERN  INDIA 

and  understand  an  ordinary  novel  or  a  book  of  travel  the 
total  would  be  less  than  250,000,  and  counted  among  the 
literates  are  all  the  girls  now  in  school  who  have  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  the  first  reader. 

In  the  United  Provinces,  the  richest  and  proudest  of  In- 
dia, where  the  arts  and  sciences  have  advanced  quite  rap- 
idly among  men,  only  56,000  women  out  of  a  total  of  23,- 
078,000  can  read  and  write,  and  that,  as  I  said  before,  in- 
cludes the  girl  children  in  the  schools.  In  the  Punjab 
Province,  which  lies  in  the  north,  out  of  a  total  of  12,- 
369,000  women  and  girls  only  42,000  can  read  and  write 
and  at  least  50  per  cent  of  them  are  under  12  years  of  age. 
The  total  number  of  girls  now  attending  school  in  India 
is  only  446,282  out  of  a  total  population  of  144,409,000 
women,  but  even  this  small  number  shows  most  encour- 
aging improvement  during  the  last  ten  years.  In  1893-4 
the  girls  in  school  were  only  375,868,  but  since  then  there 
has  been  a  gradual  increase  every  year — 400,709  in 
1897-8,  425,914  in  1899-1900  and  429,645  in  1900-01.  In 
the  Central  Province,  which  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most 
progressive  in  India,  out  of  a  total  female  population  of 
23,078,000  only  20,821  girls  altogether  are  in  school. 

But  this  does  not  fairly  indicate  the  influence  of  women 
in  India,  where  they  take  a  larger  and  more  active  share 
in  the  responsibilities  of  the  family  and  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  life  than  one  w'ould  suppose.  The  mother  of  a 
family,  if  she  is  a  woman  of  ability  and  character,  is  al- 
ways the  head  of  the  household,  and  the  most  influential 
person  in  it,  and  as  long  as  she  lives  she  occupies  the 
place  of  honor.  Women  often  manage  estates  and  com- 
mercial affairs,  and  several  have  shown  remarkable  ex- 
ecutive ability  and  judgment.  Several  of  the  native  states 
have  been  ruled  by  women  again  and  again,  and  the  Ran- 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    391 

nee  of  Sikkim  is  to-day  one  of  the  most  influential  per- 
sons in  India,  although  she  has  never  been  outside  of  the 
town  in  which  she  lives. 

An  American  lady  told  me  of  a  remarkable  interview 
she  recently  had  with  the  granddaughter  of  Tipu,  the  na- 
tive chief  who,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, gave  the  English  the  hardest  struggle  they  ever  had 
in  India.  He  was  finally  overcome  and  slain,  and  his  ter- 
ritory is  now  under  English  rule,  but  his  family  were  al- 
lowed a  generous  pension  and  have  since  lived  in  state 
with  high-sounding  titles.  His  granddaughter  lives  in  a 
splendid  palace  in  southern  India,  which  she  inherited 
from  her  father,  and  is  now  86  years  old.  She  cannot 
read  or  write,  but  is  a  women  of  extraordinary  intelli- 
gence and  wide  knowledge  of  affairs,  yet  she  has  never 
been  outside  of  the  walls  that  surround  her  residence ;  she 
has  never  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  palace  or  entered 
the  garden  that  surrounds  it  since  she  was  a  child,  and 
90  per  cent  of  her  time,  day  and  night,  has  been  spent  in 
the  room  in  which  she  was  born.  Yet  this  woman,  with 
a  title  and  great  wealth,  is  perfectly  contented  with  her 
situation.  She  considers  it  entirely  appropriate,  and 
thinks  that  all  the  women  in  the  world  ought  to  live  in  the 
same  way. 

The  influence  she  and  other  women  of  old-fashioned 
ideas  and  the  conservative  classes  have  is  the  chief  ob- 
stacle to  progress,  for  they  are  much  more  conservative 
than  the  men,  and  much  more  bigoted  in  their  ideas.  She 
does  not  believe  that  respectable  women  ought  to  go  to 
school ;  she  does  not  consider  it  necessary  for  them  to 
read  or  write,  and  thinks  that  all  women  should  devote 
themselves  to  the  affairs  of  their  households  and  bear 
children,  duties  which  do  not  require  any  education.    The 


392  MODERN   INDIA 

missionaries  wlio  work  in  the  zenanas,  or  harems,  of 
India  tell  me  that  the  prejudice  and  resistance  they  are 
compelled  to  overcome  is  much  stronger  and  more  intol- 
erant among  women  than  among  men,  for  the  former 
have  never  had  an  opportunity  to  see  the  outside  of  their 
homes ;  have  never  come  in  contact  with  foreigners  and 
modern  ideas,  and  arc  perfectly  satisfied  with  their  condi- 
tion. They  testify  that  Hindu  wives  as  a  rule  are  mere 
household  drudges,  and,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  are 
patterns  of  chastity,  industry  and  conjugal  fidelity,  and 
they  are  the  very  best  of  mothers. 

Here  and  there  a  husband  or  a  father  is  found  who  is 
conscious  of  the  disadvantages  under  which  the  women 
of  his  family  are  laboring  and  would  be  glad  to  take  upon 
himself  the  duty  of  instructing  his  wife  and  daughters, 
yet  is  prevented  from  doing  so  because  the  latter  prefer  to 
follow  the  example  of  their  foremothers  and  remain 
ignorant. 

While  such  conditions  prevail  it  is  impossible  for  the 
government  to  take  any  steps  for  the  promotion  of  educa- 
tion among  women,  but  a  notable  reform  has  been  con- 
ducted by  English  women  of  India  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Marchioness  of  Duflferin,  Lady  Curzon,  and  the 
wives  of  other  viceroys,  by  supplying  women  doctors  and 
hospitals,  because,  as  you  understand,  men  physicians  are 
not  permitted  to  enter  zenanas  except  upon  very  rare  oc- 
casions and  then  only  in  the  most  liberal  of  families.  Nor 
are  women  allowed  to  be  taken  to  hospitals.  There  are 
excellent  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  every  part  of 
India,  but  women  are  not  permitted  to  participate  in  their 
benefits,  and  an  untold  amount  of  unnecessary  suffering 
is  the  result.  Some  years  ago,  inspired  by  Lady  Duflferin, 
an  association  was  formed  to  provide  women  doctors, 


;  CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    393 

hospital  nurses,  and  establish,  under  the  direction  of 
women  exclusively,  hospitals  for  the  treatment  of  women 
and  girls.  This  association  is  non-sectarian  and  no  re- 
ligious services  or  conversations  are  allowed.  The  move- 
ment has  received  active  encouragement  from  both  the 
imperial  government  and  the  local  authorities,  and  by  the 
latest  returns  is  responsible  for  235  hospitals  and  dis- 
pensaries, 33  women  doctors  with  degrees  from  the  high- 
est institutions  of  Europe,  'j}^  assistants,  and  354  native 
students  and  trained  nurses,  who,  during  the  year  1903, 
took  care  of  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of  women  and 
girls  who  needed  treatment  and  relief.  This  does  not  in- 
clude many  similar  institutions  that  are  maintained  by 
the  various  missionary  boards  for  the  same  purpose. 
Taking  both  the  civil  and  religious  institutions  together, 
the  women  of  India  are  now  well  supplied  with  hospitals 
and  asylums. 

Scattered  over  the  country  under  the  care  of  zealous 
and  devoted  Christian  women  are  a  large  number  of 
homes  for  widows,  and  no  one  who  has  not  lived  in  India 
can  appreciate  the  importance  of  such  institutions  and  the 
blessing  they  offer,  for  the  situation  of  widows  is  pitiable. 
Formerly  they  were  burned  upon  the  funeral  pyres  of 
their  husbands.  It  was  an  ancient  custom,  adopted  from 
the  Scythian  tribes,  who  sacrificed  not  only  the  wives,  but 
the  concubines  and  slaves  and  horses  upon  the  tombs  of 
their  dead  lords. 

The  British  government  forbade  "suttee,"  as  widow 
burning  was  called,  and  although  we  hear  that  it  is  still 
practiced  occasionally  in  remote  parts  of  the  empire,  such 
an  act  would  be  punished  as  murder  if  the  police  were  to 
learn  of  it.  But  the  fate  of  some  thousands  of  widows 
is   worse  than  death,   because  among  the   superstitious 


394 


MODERN  INDIA 


Hindus  they  arc  held  responsible  for  the  death  of  their 
husbands,  and  the  sin  must  be  expiated  by  a  life  of  suf- 
fering and  penance.  As  long  as  a  widow  lives  she  must 
serve  as  a  slave  to  the  remainder  of  the  family,  she  must 
wear  mourning,  be  tabooed  from  society,  be  deprived  of 
all  pleasures  and  comforts,  and  practice  never-ending 
austerities,  so  that  after  death  she  may  escape  trans- 
migration into  the  body  of  a  reptile,  an  insect  or  a  toad. 
She  cannot  marry  again,  but  is  compelled  to  remain  in 
the  house  of  her  husband's  family,  who  make  her  lot  as 
unhappy  and  miserable  as  possible. 

The  Brahmins  prohibit  the  remarriage  of  widows,  but 
in  1856  Lord  Canning  legalized  it,  and  that  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  mutiny.  The  priests  and  conspirators 
told  the  native  soldiers  that  it  was  only  a  step  toward  the 
abolition  of  all  their  rites  and  customs.  The  law,  how- 
ever, is  a  dead  letter,  and  while  there  have  been  several 
notable  marriages  of  widows,  the  husband  and  wife  and 
the  entire  family  have  usually  been  boycotted  by  their 
relatives,  neighbors  and  friends ;  husbands  have  been 
ruined  in  business  and  subjected  to  every  humiliation  im- 
aginable. 

If  you  will  examine  the  census  statistics  you  will  be 
astonished  at  the  enormous  number  of  widows  in  India. 
Out  of  a  total  of  144,000,000  women  in  1901,  25,891,936 
were  widows,  of  whom  19,738,468  were  Hindus.  This  is 
accounted  for  by  child  marriage,  for  it  is  customary  for 
children  five  years  of  age  and  upwards  to  become  hus- 
bands and  wives.  At  least  50  per  cent  of  the  adherents 
of  Brahminism  are  married  before  they  are  ten  years  old 
and  90  per  cent  before  they  are  fifteen.  This  also  is  an 
ancient  custom  and  is  due  to  several  reasons.  Fathers 
and  mothers  desire  to  have  their  children  settled  in  life, 


CASTE  AND  THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA    395 

as  we  say,  as  early  as  possible,  and  among  the  families 
of  friends  they  are  paired  off  almost  as  soon  as  they  are 
born.  The  early  marriage,  however,  is  not  much  more 
than  a  betrothal,  for  after  it  takes  place,  usually  with 
great  ceremony,  the  children  are  sent  back  to  their  homes 
and  remain  under  the  care  of  their  parents  until  they 
reach  a  proper  age,  when  the  wife  is  conducted  with 
great  rejoicing  to  the  home  of  her  husband,  and  what  is 
equivalent  to  another  marriage  takes  place.  This  occurs 
among  the  highly  educated  and  progressive  Hindus. 
They  defend  the  custom  as  wise  and  beneficial  on  the 
theory  that  it  is  an  advantage  for  husband  and  wife  to  be 
brought  up  together  and  have  their  characters  molded  by 
the  same  influences  and  surroundings.  In  that  way,  they 
argue,  much  unhappiness  and  trouble  is  prevented.  But 
in  India,  as  everywhere  else,  the  mortality  is  greatest 
among  children,  and  more  than  70  per  cent  of  the  deaths 
reported  are  of  persons  under  ten  years  of  age.  Those 
who  are  married  are  no  more  exempt  than  those  who  are 
not,  which  explains  the  number  of  widows  reported,  and 
no  matter  how  young  a  girl  may  be  when  her  husband 
dies  she  can  never  have  a  second. 

Widowers  are  allowed  to  marry  again  and  most  of 
them  do.  There  are  only  8,110,084  widowers  in  all  India 
as  against  nearly  26,000,000  widows. 

Of  course  there  are  many  native  homes  in  which  wid- 
ows are  treated  kindly  and  receive  the  same  attention  and 
are  allowed  the  same  pleasures  as  the  other  women  of  the 
family,  but  those  who  understand  India  assert  that  they 
are  exceptional,  and  hence  asylums  for  those  who  are 
treated  badly  are  very  much  needed.  This  is  a  matter 
with  which  the  government  cannot  deal  and  the  work  is 


396  MODERN  INDIA 

left  entirely  to  the  Christian  missionaries,  who  establish 
homes  and  teach  friendless  widows  to  become  self-sup- 
porting. 


XXV 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA 


Allahabad  is  the  center  of  learning,  the  Athens  in  India, 
the  seat  of  a  native  university,  the  residence  of  many 
prominent  men,  the  headquarters  of  Protestant  mission- 
ary work,  the  residence  of  the  governor  of  the  United 
Provinces,  Sir  James  La  Touche,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  progressive  of  the  British  officials  in  India.  Alla- 
habad was  once  a  city  of  great  importance.  In  the  time 
of  the  Moguls  it  was  the  most  strongly  fortified  place  in 
India,  but  the  ancient  citadel  has  been  torn  down  by  the 
British  and  the  palaces  and  temples  it  contained  have  been 
converted  into  barracks,  arsenals  and  storehouses.  No- 
where in  India  have  so  many  beautiful  structures  been  de- 
stroyed by  official  authority,  and  great  regret  is  fre- 
quently expressed.  Allahabad  was  also  a  religious  center 
in  ancient  times  and  the  headquarters  of  the  Buddhist 
faith.  The  most  interesting  monument  in  the  city  is  the 
Lat  of  Osoka,  one  of  a  series  of  stone  columns  erected  by 
King  Asoka  throughout  his  domains  about  the  year  B. 
C.  260,  which  were  inscribed  with  texts  expressing  the 
doctrines  of  Buddhism  as  taught  by  him.  He  did  for 
that  faith  what  the  Emperor  Constantine  the  Great  did 
for  Christianity ;  made  it  the  religion  of  the  state,  ap- 
pointed a  council  of  priests  to  formulate  a  creed  and  pre- 
pare a  ritual,  and  by  his  orders  that  creed  was  carved  on 
rocks,  in  caves  and  on  pillars  of  stone  and  gateways  of 

397 


398  MODERN  INDIA 

cities  for  the  education  of  the  people.  The  texts  or  max- 
ims embodied  in  the  creed  represent  the  purest  form  of 
Buddhism,  and  if  they  could  be  faithfully  practiced  by  the 
human  family  this  world  would  be  a  much  better  and 
happier  place  than  it  is. 

Several  handsome  modern  buildings  are  occupied  by 
the  government,  the  courts  and  the  municipal  officials, 
and  the  university  is  the  chief  educational  institution  of 
northern  India.  There  are  five  universities  in  the  empire 
— at  Bombay,  Calcutta,  Lahore,  Allahabad  and  Madras 
— and  they  are  managed  and  conducted  on  a  plan  very 
different  from  ours,  having  no  fixed  terms  or  lectures, 
but  having  regular  examinations  open  to  all  comers  who 
seek  degrees.  The  standard  is  not  quite  so  high  as  that 
of  our  colleges  and  the  curriculum  is  not  so  advanced. 
The  students  may  come  at  15  or  16  years  of  age  and  be 
examined  in  English,  Latin,  Greek  history,  geography, 
mathematics  and  the  elements  of  science,  the  course  being 
just  a  grade  higher  than  that  of  our  high  schools,  and  get 
a  degree  or  certificate  showing  their  proficiency.  They 
are  very  largely  attended  by  natives  who  seek  diplomas 
required  for  the  professions  and  government  employ- 
ment. After  two  years'  study  in  any  regular  course  a 
student  may  present  himself  for  an  examination  for  a  de- 
gree and  is  then  eligible  for  a  diploma  in  law,  medicine, 
engineering  and  other  sciences. 

The  slipshod  systems  pursued  at  these  institutions  have 
been  severely  criticised  by  scientific  educators,  but  they 
seem  to  answer  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  intended. 
It  is  often  asserted  that  the  colleges  and  universities  in 
India  do  not  cultivate  a  genuine  desire  for  learning ;  that 
the  education  they  furnish  is  entirely  superficial,  and  that 
it  is  obtained  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  because  it  is  a 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  399 

necessary  qualification  for  a  government  appointment  or 
a  professional  career.  It  is  asserted  that  no  graduate  of 
any  of  these  institutions  has  ever  distinguished  himself 
for  scholarship  or  in  science,  that  no  native  of  India  edu- 
cated in  them  has  ever  produced  any  original  work  of 
merit,  and  that  no  problem  of  political  or  material  im- 
portance has  ever  been  solved  by  a  citizen  of  this  empire. 
In  1902  Lord  Curzon,  who  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in 
this  subject  and  is  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  public 
schools,  appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  the  con- 
duct and  efficiency  of  the  universities  of  India.  The  re- 
port was  not  enthusiastic  or  encouraging.  It  was  en- 
tirely noncommittal.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  said 
that  the  universities  and  colleges  of  India  are  a  great  deal 
better  than  nothing  at  all,  and  as  there  is  no  other  pro- 
vision for  higher  education  they  serve  a  very  important 
purpose. 

The  deplorable  illiteracy  of  the  people  of  India  is  dis- 
closed by  the  recent  census.  Ninety-five  per  cent  of  the 
men  and  more  than  99  per  cent  of  the  women  have  never 
learned  the  first  letter  of  the  alphabet,  and  would  not  rec- 
ognize their  own  name  if  written  or  printed.  I  have  been 
told  by  ladies  engaged  in  missionary  and  educational 
work  that  grown  people  of  the  lower  classes  cannot  even 
distinguish  one  picture  from  another;  that  their  mental 
perceptions  are  entirely  blank,  and  that  signs  and  other 
objects  which  usually  excite  the  attention  of  children  have 
no  meaning  whatever  for  them.  The  total  number  of  il- 
literates recorded  is  246,546,176,  leaving  47,814,180  of 
both  sexes  unaccounted  for,  but  of  these  only  12,097,530 
are  returned  as  able  to  read  and  write.  The  latest  statis- 
tics show  that  3,195,220  of  both  sexes  are  under  instruc- 
tion. 


400  MODERN  INDIA 

And  even  the  percentages  I  have  mentioned  do  not  ade- 
quately represent  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple, because  more  than  half  of  those  returned  by  the  cen- 
sus enumerators  as  literates  cannot  read  understandingly 
a  connected  sentence  in  a  book  or  newspaper  and  can 
only  write  their  own  names.  The  other  half  are  largely 
composed  of  foreigners  or  belong  to  the  Brahmin  castes. 
The  latter  are  largely  responsible  for  present  conditions, 
because  their  long-continued  enjoyment  of  a  hereditary 
supremacy  over  the  rest  of  the  population  has  been  due 
to  their  learning  and  to  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  be- 
longing to  other  castes.  They  realize  that  they  could 
never  control  any  but  an  illiterate  population.  Hence 
the  priests,  who  should  be  leaders  in  education,  are,  gen- 
erally speaking,  the  most  formidable  opponents  of  every 
form  of  school. 

The  census  shows  that  only  386,000  natives  in  the 
whole  of  India  possess  a  knowledge  of  English,  and  this 
number  includes  all  the  girls,  boys  and  young  men  under 
instruction. 

The  Parsees  and  Jains  are  more  eager  for  learning  than 
the  Hindus,  and  are  taking  an  active  part  in  educational 
affairs.  The  Mohammedans  are  also  realizing  the  im- 
portance of  modern  schools,  and  there  is  now  quite  an 
energetic  movement  among  that  sect.  There  is  a  school 
connected  with  almost  every  Jain  temple.  We  visited  one 
at  Delhi.  There  were  no  benches  or  desks.  The  children, 
who  were  of  all  ages,  from  4  years  old  upward,  were 
squatting  upon  the  floor  around  their  masters,  and  were 
learning  the  ordinary  branches  taught  in  common  schools, 
with  the  exception  of  one  class  over  in  a  far  corner  of  the 
room,  which  was  engaged  in  the  study  of  Sanskrit.  It 
was  explained  to  us  that  they  were  being  trained   for 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  401 

priests.  Everybody  was  bare-footed  and  bare-legged, 
teachers  and  all,  and  every  boy  was  studying  out  loud, 
repeating  his  lesson  over  and  over  as  he  committed  it  to 
memory.  Some  of  the  youngsters  made  their  presence 
known  by  reading  in  very  loud  voices.  A  few  of  them 
had  ordinary  slates.  Others  used  blocks  of  wood  for  the 
same  purpose,  but  the  most  of  them  wrote  their  exercises 
upon  pieces  of  tin  taken  from  cans  sent  over  by  the 
Standard  Oil  Company.  We  went  into  a  school  one  day 
where,  for  lack  of  slates  and  stationery,  the  children  were 
copying  their  writing  lessons  in  the  sand  on  the  floor.  It 
was  a  new  idea,  but  it  answered  the  purpose.  With  little 
brushes  they  smoothed  off  a  surface  and  formed  letters  as 
clearly  as  they  could  have  been  made  upon  a  blackboard. 

Bright  colors  are  characteristic  of  the  Hindus.  Their 
garments  are  of  the  gayest  tints  ;  both  the  outer  and  inner 
walls  of  their  houses  are  covered  with  rude  drawings  in 
colors ;  their  carts  are  painted  in  fantastic  designs ;  and 
their  trunks  are  ornamented  in  a  similar  way.  They  are 
not  always  done  in  the  highest  form  of  art,  but  you  may 
be  sure  that  the  colors  are  bright  and  permanent.  Some 
people  paint  the  hides  of  their  horses  and  bullocks,  es- 
pecially on  hoHdays,  and  their  taste  for  art,  both  in  design 
and  execution,  is  much  more  highly  developed  than  their 
knowledge  of  letters. 

The  present  Indian  educational  system  is  about  fifty 
years  old,  but  popular  education,  as  we  use  that  term,  was 
not  introduced  in  a  practical  way  until  during  the  '8o's. 
Up  to  that  time  nearly  all  the  schools  were  conducted  by 
missionaries  and  as  private  institutions.  In  1858,  when 
the  government  was  transferred  from  the  East  India 
Company  to  the  crown,  there  were  only  2,000  public 
schools  in  all  India,  with  less  than  200,000  pupils,  and 


402  MODERN  INDIA 

even  now  with  a  population  of  300,000,000  there  are  only 
148,541  institutions  of  learning  of  all  kinds,  including 
kindergartens  and  universities,  with  a  grand  total  of 
4,530,412  pupils.  Of  these  43,160  are  private  institutions, 
with  638,999  pupils. 

Education  is  not  compulsory  in  India.  The  natives  are 
not  compelled  to  send  their  children  to  school  and  the 
officials  tell  me  that  if  it  were  attempted  there  would  be 
great  trouble,  chiefly  because  of  the  Brahmin  priests, 
who,  as  I  have  already  intimated,  are  decidedly  opposed 
to  the  education  of  the  masses.  Normal  schools  have 
been  established  in  every  province  for  the  training  of 
teachers,  with  31,114  young  men  and  2,833  yowng  women 
as  students.  There  has  been  a  slight  increase  in  the  at- 
tendance at  school  during  the  last  few  years.  In  1892 
only  I  I.I  per  cent  of  the  children  of  school  age  were  en- 
rolled and  the  average  attendance  was  a  little  over  7  per 
cent.  In  1902  the  enrollment  had  increased  to  12.5  per 
cent  of  the  school  population,  and  the  attendance  to  a 
little  more  than  8  per  cent.  Of  the  pupils  in  the  public 
schools  509,525  were  Brahmins  and  2,269,930  non-Brah- 
mins. In  the  private  institutions  43,032  were  Brahmins 
and  the  balance  non-Brahmins. 

There  are  several  important  art  schools  in  India  which 
have  been  established  and  are  encouraged  by  the  govern- 
ment for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  natives  to  pur- 
sue the  industrial  arts.  Lord  Curzon  has  taken  a  decided 
interest  in  this  subject,  and  is  doing  everything  in  his 
power  to  revive  the  ancient  art  industries,  such  as  brocade 
weaving,  embroidery,  carving,  brass  working,  mosaic, 
lacquering,  and  others  of  a  decorative  character.  The 
tendency  of  late  years  has  been  to  increase  the  volume  of 
the  product  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  quality,  and  the  foreign 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  403 

demand  for  Indian  goods  and  the  indifference  of  the  buy- 
ing public  as  to  their  excellence  is  said  to  have  been  very 
demoralizing  upon  the  artisans. 

From  an  artistic  point  of  view,  the  manufactures  of 
metal  are  the  most  important  products  of  India  ;  the  wood 
carvers  of  ancient  times  surpassed  all  rivals  and  still  have 
a  well-deserved  reputation.  In  every  village  may  be 
found  artists  of  great  merit  both  in  brass,  copper,  wood, 
silk  and  other  industrial  arts,  but  the  quality  of  their  work 
is  continually  deteriorating,  and  Lord  Curzon  and  other 
sincere  friends  of  India  are  endeavoring  to  restore  it  to 
the  former  high  standard.  For  that  purpose  art  schools 
have  been  established  in  Calcutta,  Lahore,  Bombay, 
Madras  and  other  places,  first  to  train  the  eyes  and  the 
hands  of  the  young  artisans,  and,  second,  to  elevate  their 
taste  and  stimulate  their  ambition  to  excel  in  whatever 
line  of  work  they  undertake.  There  are  several  thousand 
young  men  in  these  schools  who  have  shown  remarkable 
talent  and  are  beginning  to  make  their  influence  felt 
throughout  the  country. 

As  you  may  imagine,  it  is  very  difficult  to  induce  people 
to  produce  objects  of  high  art  when  those  which  cost  less 
labor  and  money  can  be  sold  for  the  same  prices.  As 
long  as  the  foreign  demand  for  Indian  goods  continues 
this  tendency  to  cheapen  the  product  will  be  noticed. 

By  the  late  census  it  appears  that  there  were  2,590  pub- 
lications in  the  native  Indian  languages  during  the  year 
1900,  as  against  2,178  during  the  previous  year;  1,895 
were  books  and  695  pamphlets  ;  1,616  of  the  books  were 
original  works  and  the  remainder  were  translations ;  832 
were  in  the  Bengali  language  and  the  remainder  were 
divided  among  eighty-eight  other  languages,  ninety-nine 
being  in  Sanskrit  and  103  in  Persian,  Included  in  this  list 


404  MODERN  INDIA 

were  poetry,  fiction,  works  of  travel,  religious  books,  his- 
tory, biography,  philosophy  and  several  on  political  econ- 
omy. Among  the  Persian  publications  I  noticed  "A  His- 
tory of  Russian  Rule  in  Asia"  ;  among  the  translations  are 
Lord  Lytton's  "Last  Days  of  Pompeii,"  several  popular 
novels,  and  several  of  Shapespeare's  plays.  There  was 
a  history  of  England  and  a  series  of  biographies  entitled 
"Lives  of  Great  Women,"  including  tliose  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria, Queen  Elizabeth,  Maria  Theresa,  Marie  Antoinette, 
and  the  mother  of  Napoleon  I. 

Since  1902  there  have  been  several  movements  among 
the  Hindus  and  Mohammedan  citizens  of  India  looking 
to  the  advancement  of  their  races  and  coreligionists.  At 
Bombay,  in  December,  1903,  was  held  a  Alohammedan 
educational  conference,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  a  plan  of  permanent  organization  for  the  pur- 
pose of  awakening  among  the  members  of  that  sect  an 
interest  in  the  advancement  of  women  and  the  education 
of  the  masses.  Representatives  were  present  from  nearly 
all  of  the  provinces  in  which  there  is  a  Mohammedan  pop- 
ulation, and  resolutions  were  passed  declaring  that,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  conference,  schools  should  be  estab- 
lished throughout  India  to  educate  young  women  and 
children  of  both  sexes  in  strict  conformity  with  the  cus- 
toms and  doctrines  of  Islam.  It  was  asserted  that  such 
educational  facilities  are  absolutely  necessary  to  keep  the 
children  out  of  the  public  and  Christian  schools.  The 
most  notable  feature  of  the  conference,  which  marks  an 
entirely  new  departure  in  the  history  of  Islam,  was  the 
presence,  unveiled  and  in  modern  dress,  of  Miss  Sorabjee, 
a  highly  educated  and  accomplished  member  of  that  sect, 
who  appeared  daily  upon  the  platform,  participated  in  the 
debates  and  made  a  lengthy  address  upon  the  emancipa- 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  405 

tion  of  women.  She  declared  that  in  a  population  of  60,- 
000,000  Mohammedans  only  4,000  girls  are  now  attend- 
ing school,  which,  she  said,  is  a  menace  to  civilization,  a 
detriment  to  Islam  and  a  disgrace  to  the  members  of  that 
church.  I  was  informed  that  this  is  the  first  time  a 
Mohammedan  woman  ever  made  an  address  before  a 
public  assembly  of  Mohammedans,  because  the  Koran 
does  not  permit  women  to  appear  in  public  and  custom 
requires  them  to  conceal  their  faces.  Miss  Sorabjee  was, 
nevertheless,  received  with  respect,  and  made  a  decidedly 
favorable  impression  upon  the  assembly,  which  was  com- 
posed of  men  of  culture  and  influence  and  true  believers 
in  the  teachings  of  the  Prophet. 

Another  notable  feature  of  the  conference  was  the 
unanimous  recognition  of  the  growing  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  Indian  Empire,  and  the  opinion  that  in  order 
to  preserve  their  faith  the  followers  of  Islam  must  imitate 
its  example.  Progressive  Mohammedans  have  become 
convinced  that  not  only  their  men  but  their  women  will 
insist  upon  having  an  education,  and  will  seek  it  in  the 
Christian  schools  if  facilities  are  not  furnished  by  mem- 
bers of  their  own  religion.  Aga  Khan,  a  Mohammedan 
prince  who  presided  over  the  gathering,  explained  that 
the  conference  was  called  in  obedience  to  the  spirit  of 
progress,  and  as  an  indication  that  the  Mohammedan  sec- 
tion of  the  community  was  alive  to  the  disadvantages 
under  which  the  members  of  the  faith  were  laboring,  and 
to  the  need  of  educated  men  as  leaders  in  society  and 
commerce. 

Mr.  Tyabji,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  Bombay  presidency,  took  even  more  advanced  ground 
and  declared  that  the  schools  proposed  by  the  conference 
must  be  far  in  advance  of  those  heretofore  provided  by 


4o6  MODERN   INDIA 

Mohammedans,  and  teach  English,  French,  German  and 
the  modern  sciences  as  well  as  the  maxims  of  the  Koran. 
By  that  remark  he  uncovered  the  great  defect  of  Moham- 
medan education,  which  is  purely  religious,  with  the. ex- 
ception of  a  single  institution  in  northern  India  to  which 
I  refer  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  conservative  element 
of  the  Moslem  population  holds  that  a  knowledge  of 
reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  is  sufficient  for  members 
of  that  sect ;  hence  in  most  of  their  schools  they  teach 
nothing  except  the  Koran,  which  is  the  book  of  books, 
the  law  of  laws,  and  contains  knowledge  sufficient  for  all 
mankind  under  all  circumstances.  Some  progressive  Mo- 
hammedans go  a  little  too  far  in  the  other  direction  and 
would  ignore  all  Arabic  literature  and  leave  all  eccle- 
siastical affairs  to  the  priests.  The  Arabic  and  Persian 
languages  are  rich  in  learning,  poetry  and  general  liter- 
ature. But  they  are  not  cultivated,  and  are  almost  un- 
known to  the  Moslem  priests,  who  are  the  school  teachers 
of  that  faith  to-day.  They  have  left  the  revival  of  Arabic 
belles-lettres  entirely  to  foreigners,  and  confine  them- 
selves to  the  Koran  and  the  commentaries  that  have  been 
prepared  upon  it.  It  is  asserted  that  one  can  learn  more 
of  Arabian  and  Persian  literature  to-day  in  London,  Ox- 
ford, Paris,  Berlin  or  Zurich  than  is  known  in  Constanti- 
nople or  Cairo  or  any  other  Mohammedan  city,  and  that 
Professor  Max  Muller  of  Oxford  has  done  more  to  en- 
courage its  study  than  all  the  Mohammedan  priests  and 
professors  in  existence. 

At  almost  the  same  time,  although  in  another  place, 
several  of  the  leading  thinkers  and  scholars  of  the  Brah- 
min caste  were  discussing  the  same  subject  with  the  same 
purpose  and  from  the  same  point  of  view.  They  have 
been  endeavoring  to  inaugurate  what  they  are  pleased  to 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  407 

call  "the  Renaissance  of  the  Hindus."  And  there  is  also 
an  active  movement  for  a  revival  of  Buddhism,  although 
thus  far  it  is  confined  to  Japan  and  Ceylon.  Buddhism  is 
practically  extinct  in  India.  At  the  Hindu  conference 
several  thoughtful  people  expressed  the  view  that  some- 
thing must  be  done  to  revive  the  vitality  of  that  religion, 
because  it  is  the  faith  of  nearly  200,000,000  souls  in  India 
alone,  over  whom  it  is  gradually  losing  its  influence,  be- 
cause of  the  vigorous  propaganda  of  the  Christians.  It 
was  not  admitted  that  the  Hindus  are  adopting  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  but  merely  that  they  are  losing  confidence  in 
their  own  and  drifting  toward  materialism. 

It  is  universally  recognized  among  educated  Brahmins 
that  India  is  approaching  a  great  religious  crisis  which 
demands  the  attention  of  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  the  people.  The  movement  is  slow,  but  quite 
obvious  to  all  who  are  watching  the  development  of  re- 
forms that  have  been  proposed  for  the  last  fifteen  or 
twenty  years.  It  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  Brahminism, 
as  taught  at  the  temples  of  India  to-day,  does  not  satisfy 
or  even  appeal  to  educated  men.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
insisted  that  true  Hinduism  has  the  same  ideals  and  the 
same  spiritual  advantages  that  are  offered  by  Christianity. 

Experienced  missionaries  tell  me  there  is  a  distinct 
tendency  among  educated  Hindus  to  give  up  the  old  line 
of  defense  against  the  Christian  religion,  and,  admitting 
the  ethical  purity  and  truth  of  the  teachings  of  Christ,  to 
attack  some  particular  doctrine,  some  dogma  over  which 
Christians  themselves  have  been  in  controversy,  to  elab- 
orate the  criticisms  of  Ingersoll  and  Bradlaugh,  and  to 
call  attention  to  the  failure  of  the  Christians  to  realize 
their  own  ideals.  This  is  very  significant,  but  at  the 
same  time  there  is  little  encouragement  or  satisfaction  in 


4o8  MODERN  INDIA 

studying  and  tracing  the  various  reforms  that  have  been 
started  from  time  to  time  among  the  Hindus.  They  have 
been  many  and  frequent.  New  teachers  are  constantly 
arising,  new  organizations  are  being  formed,  and  revivals 
of  ancient  precepts  are  occurring  every  year,  but  they  do 
not  endure.  They  are  confined  to  limited  circles,  and 
none  has  yet  penetrated  to  any  extent  into  the  dense  mass 
of  superstition,  idolatry  and  ignorance  which  lays  its 
offerings  at  the  altars  of  cruel  and  obscene  gods. 

At  one  of  Lady  Curzon's  receptions,  among  other  not- 
able men  and  women,  I  met  Sir  Nepundra  Narayan 
Bhuf  Bahadur,  Maharaja  of  Cutch-Behar,  and  his  wife, 
one  of  the  few  native  w^omen  who  dress  in  modern  attire 
and  appear  in  public  like  their  European  sisters.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  one  of  the  most  famous  of  Indian  re- 
formers. 

Early  in  the  last  century  a  scholar  and  patriot  named 
Ramohun  Roy,  becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  teachings 
and  habits  of  the  Brahmins,  renounced  his  ancestral  re- 
ligion and  organized  what  was  called  "The  Truth  Seek- 
ing Society"  for  the  purpose  of  reviving  pure  Hinduism. 
He  proclaimed  a  thcistic  creed,  taught  the  existence  of 
one  God,  and  the  sin  of  idolatry.  He  declared  for  the 
emancipation  of  women,  for  charity  to  the  poor  and  help- 
less, for  the  purity  of  life,  and,  altogether,  his  sermons 
and  lectures  are  very  similar  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Unitarians  in  the  United  States.  He  was  called  the 
Theodore  Parker  of  India,  and  attracted  many  followers. 
But  before  he  had  accomplished  much  he  died,  and  his 
mantle  fell  upon  Keshab  Chunder  Sen,  a  man  of  great 
learning,  talent  and  worth,  the  son  of  one  of  the  most 
conservative  families  of  the  Brahmin  caste,  born  and 
brought  up  in  a  fetid  atmosphere  of  superstition  and 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  409 

idolatry.  While  attending  school  at  Calcutta  he  was 
thrown  in  with  European  teachers  and  associates  and, 
being  of  an  inquisitive  mind,  undertook  the  study  of  re- 
ligions other  than  his  own.  It  naturally  came  about  that 
he  heard  of  the  "Truth  Seeking  Society"  and  ultimately 
joined  it,  and  by  his  force  of  character  and  ability  became 
one  of  its  leaders.  Early  in  his  career  he  concluded  that 
the  greatest  weakness  among  the  people  of  India  is  their 
treatment  of  their  women,  and  he  organized  what  was 
known  as  "The  Indian  Reform  Association"  for  the  pur- 
pose of  promoting  the  education  of  women,  preventing 
child  marriage,  relieving  widows  from  their  forlorn  os- 
tracism and  securing  for  the  daughters  of  Indian  families 
the  same  legal  and  property  rights  that  are  enjoyed  by  the 
sons.  The  movement  became  quite  popular  and  he 
gained  considerable  reputation.  He  went  to  England  and 
Germany  and  delivered  lectures  and  published  several 
books.  His  agitation  accomplished  some  practical  results, 
and  he  secured  the  passage  of  several  laws  of  importance 
establishing  the  civil  rights  of  wives,  widows  and 
daughters. 

In  1884  his  daughter,  a  very  brilliant  and  beautiful 
woman,  married  the  Maharaja  of  Cutch-Behar,  who  was 
converted,  joined  the  movement  and  became  an  active 
member  of  the  society.  Like  many  others  of  the  princely 
families  of  India,  he  lays  claim  to  divine  origin,  the 
founder  of  his  dynasty  having  been  a  god.  In  1772,  the 
ruling  rajah,  having  been  attacked  by  more  powerful 
neighbors,  applied  for  protection  to  Warren  Hastings, 
then  governor  of  Bengal,  and  acknowledged  subjection  to 
the  East  Indian  Company.  The  province  of  Cutch-Behar 
was  thus  one  of  the  first  to  be  absorbed  by  the  British 
Empire,  but  it  has  ever  since  been  governed  by  the  native 


410  MODERN  INDIA 

prince,  who  nominally  owns  all  of  the  land  in  his  territory 
and  receives  taxes  in  lieu  of  rent  from  his  tenants,  who 
are  his  subjects.  His  territory  has  a  population  of 
650,000,  of  whom  427,000  are  Hindus  and  174,539  are 
Mohammedans.  He  is  assisted  in  his  government  by  a 
resident  English  adviser,  appointed  by  the  viceroy,  and 
really  has  very  little  to  do.  He  has  a  personal  allowance 
of  $150,000  for  the  support  of  himself  and  family,  and 
inherited  from  his  ancestors  one  of  the  most  rare  and  val- 
uable collections  of  jewels  in  India. 

The  present  maharaja  was  born  in  1863,  educated  in 
England,  attained  his  majority  in  1883,  and  has  two  sons, 
one  of  whom  is  a  member  of  the  Viceroy's  Corps  of  Im- 
perial Cadets,  and  the  other  acts  as  his  father's  secretary. 
The  maharaja  is  considered  one  of  the  handsomest  men 
in  India,  as  he  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  pro- 
gressive, and  his  wife  is  as  famous  for  her  intellectual 
as  for  her  physical  attractions. 

The  late  Jamsetjee  Nusserwanji  Tata  of  Bombay,  a 
typical  Parsee,  amassed  an  enormous  fortune  as  a  mer- 
chant and  manufacturer,  won  an  enviable  reputation  for 
integrity,  enterprise  and  public  spirit,  and  for  several 
years  before  his  lamented  death  in  1904,  was  permitted  to 
enjoy  the  gratification  that  men  of  his  kind  deserve  after 
a  long  career  of  activity  and  usefulness.  Having  pro- 
vided in  a  most  ample  manner  for  his  own  future  wants, 
and  intrusting  his  enormous  business  responsibilities  to 
his  sons,  he  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life  to  travel  and  other 
pleasures,  and  a  large  portion  of  his  fortune  to  benevo- 
lence. I  have  been  frequently  told  that  Mr.  Tata  in  his 
time  was  the  most  enterprising  man  in  India.  He  spent 
enormous  sums  in  experiments  for  the  development  of 
the   resources  and  industries  of  his  country;  some  of 


EDUCATION  IN  INDIA  411 

which  failed,  but  others  have  been  eminently  successful. 
He  developed  the  cotton  industry,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other  man,  and  improved  the  staple  by  importing  plants 
and  seeds  from  Egypt.  He  was  largely  engaged  in  grow- 
ing, preserving  and  exporting  the  fruits  of  India  in  order 
to  furnish  another  occupation  for  the  country  people,  and 
in  a  thorough  exploration  of  its  iron  deposits,  building 
furnaces,  smelters,  and  mills  with  the  hope  of  being  able 
to  supply  the  local  markets  with  home  made  steel  and 
iron.  There  is  plenty  of  ore,  plenty  of  coal  and  labor,  and 
Mr.  Tata  was  willing  to  pay  the  expense  and  do  the  work 
of  a  pioneer  in  order  that  his  fellow  countrymen  may 
enjoy  the  wealth  that  lies  dormant  in  their  mountains. 

He  had  cotton  mills  and  other  manufactories  in  various 
parts  of  India,  but  the  greater  part  of  his  fortune  was  in- 
vested in  the  industries  and  real  estate  of  his  own 
province  of  Bombay.  His  residence  was  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  beautiful  palaces  in  that  city,  filled  with 
works  of  art  and  trophies  of  travel.  He  was  the  owner  of 
several  of  the  finest  business  blocks,  introduced  modern 
apartment  houses  into  Bombay,  and  built  the  modern 
hotel  to  which  I  have  several  times  alluded.  He  sup- 
ported several  young  Parsees  in  the  technical  schools  and 
colleges  of  England,  Germany  and  the  United  States. 
For  years  no  less  than  six  such  students  were  selected  an- 
nually to  be  educated  at  his  expense,  not  only  because  he 
took  a  personal  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  co-religion- 
ists, but  because  he  believed  that  young  engineers,  chem- 
ists, electricians  and  other  practical  scientists  were  needed 
to  develop  the  resources  of  India. 

Mr.  Tata's  latest  act  of  benevolence,  shortly  before  his 
death,  was  to  place  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  trustees,  of 
whom  the  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Bombay  is 


412  MODERN  INDIA 

chairman,  real  estate  and  securities  valued  at  more  than 
3,500,000  of  rupees,  which  is  equivalent  to  about  $1,- 
250,000,  the  income  from  which,  amounting  to  120,000 
rupees,  or  about  $40,000  in  our  money,  a  year,  is  to  be 
used  for  the  establishment  and  perpetual  maintenance  of 
the  Indian  Research  University,  a  name  selected  by  a  con- 
ference called  together  by  the  viceroy.  This  conference 
was  composed  of  four  directors  of  public  instruction  for 
the  different  provinces  of  India,  the  home  secretary  of 
the  imperial  government,  the  surgeon  general  of  the  army 
and  several  other  gentlemen  eminent  in  educational  and 
public  affairs.  After  a  careful  examination  of  all  condi- 
tions they  decided  to  locate  the  institution  at  the  city  of 
Bangalore,  in  the  province  of  Mysore,  in  southern  India, 
where  the  local  government,  as  an  inducement,  donated 
300  acres  of  land  upon  an  eminence  in  a  very  favorable 
situation,  and  offered  a  contribution  of  18,000  rupees  a 
year  toward  the  payment  of  the  expenses,  provided  the 
money  is  used  in  such  a  way  as  to  benefit  the  people  of 
that  province.  It  has  also  offered  to  defray  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  cost  of  erecting  the  necessary  buildings. 


XXVI 

THE  HIMALAYAS  AND  THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET 

Darjeeling  is  one  of  the  most  favored  spots  on  earth, 
the  loveliest  place  in  India,  and  the  favorite  resort  and 
sanitarium  of  the  citizen  element  as  distinguished  from 
military  and  official  circles.  It  is  a  hard  journey,  both  go- 
ing and  coming,  and  a  traveler  gets  impatient  when  he 
finds  that  it  takes  him  from  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  one  day  until  nearly  two  o'clock  of  the  next  to  make  a 
journey  of  246  miles.  He  leaves  Calcutta  with  the  thin- 
nest clothing  he  can  buy,  but  when  he  arrives  there  he  is 
glad  that  he  brought  his  overcoat  and  gloves,  and  pulls  a 
second  blanket  over  himself  at  night.  At  the  same  time 
it  is  not  so  cold  in  Darjeeling  as  one  would  expect  from 
the  altitude  of  7,400  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  latitude, 
which  is  about  27  degrees  50  minutes.  You  travel  from 
four  o'clock  till  seven  upon  a  railway  of  ordinary  gauge, 
cross  the  Ganges  on  a  steamboat  for  an  hour,  taking  your 
dinner  while  afloat ;  change  into  a  three- foot  gauge  train 
until  half-past  four  in  the  morning,  when  you  are  routed 
out,  given  a  cup  of  coflfee  and  a  roll,  and  transferred  to  a 
baby  carriage  on  wheels  which  crawls  up  the  foothills  of 
the  Himalayas  at  the  rate  of  six  miles  an  hour. 

The  track  is  only  two  feet  gauge,  with  forty-pound 
rails,  which  have  been  laid  upon  the  ancient  highway  over 
which  the  caravans  between  China  and  India  have  passed 
for  thirty  centuries.    It  winds  in  and  out  of  gorges  and 

413 


414  MODERN   INDIA 

defiles  and  at  several  points  the  engineers  have  had  to  cut 
a  foothold  for  it  on  the  edges  of  tremendous  precipices. 
It  doubles  on  itself  repeatedly,  describes  the  letter  S  and 
the  letter  Z  and  the  figure  8,  and  zigzags  about  so  reck- 
lessly that  the  engineer  puts  his  locomotive  first  at  one 
end  of  the  train  and  then  at  the  other.  Englishmen  who 
write  books  on  India  assert  that  it  is  the  grandest  railway 
journey  in  the  world,  but  we  can  show,  them  several  quite 
as  picturesque  and  attractive  in  our  own  beloved  Rocky 
Mountains,  The  only  advantage  they  have  over  us  there 
is  the  superior  height  of  the  mountains  and  the  superior 
size  of  the  trees.  But  you  must  remember  that  our  coun- 
try is  young  yet,  and  India  is  one  of  the  oldest  nations  in 
the  world. 

The  first  few  miles  of  track  lie  in  a  dense  jungle,  with 
vegetation  of  truly  tropical  luxuriance.  Cane  stalks  grow 
fifty  and  sixty  feet  high,  the  grass  is  fifteen  feet  deep, 
beautiful  bamboo  trees,  whose  foliage  is  as  fine  as  feath- 
ers, and  palms  which  have  plumage  like  a  peacock  and  a 
bird  of  paradise,  lift  their  proud  and  haughty  heads  above 
an  impenetrable  growth  which,  the  guides  tell  us,  is  the 
home  of  tigers,  rhinoceroses,  panthers,  bears,  wild  hogs, 
buffaloes,  deer  and  all  sorts  of  beasts,  and  snakes  as  big 
around  as  a  barrel.  Fern  trees  are  lovely,  and  are  found 
here  in  their  greatest  glory,  but  nevertheless  we  have  fo- 
liage at  home,  and  they  are  no  more  beautiful  than  our 
elms,  oaks,  and  other  trees  that  I  might  mention. 

This  is  a  great  tea  country,  and  the  mountain  sides 
have  been  cleared  in  many  places  for  plantations.  A  tea 
planter  in  India  is  a  heavy  swell.  He  may  be  no  more 
brilliant  or  intellectual  or  virtuous  or  handsome,  but  the 
fact  that  he  grows  tea  instead  of  potatoes  or  wheat  or 
sugar  gives  him  a  higher  standing  in  the  social  scale.     I 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  415 

was  asking  an  explanation  of  this  phenomenon  from  a 
very  wise  man  the  other  day,  and,  although  he  insisted 
that  his  attention  had  never  been  called  to  it  before,  he 
was  willing  to  admit  that  it  was  so,  and  he  explained  it  on 
the  theory  that  so  many  sons  of  dukes  and  earls  and  lords 
and  the  swagger  set  in  England  had  come  to  India  to  en- 
gage in  tea  growing  that  they  had  created  a  caste  of  their 
own  ;  so  that  whenever  a  man  said  he  was  a  tea  planter  the 
public  immediately  assumed  that  his  father  belonged  to 
the  nobility  and  treated  him  accordingly.  The  tea  plant- 
ers usually  live  in  good  style.  They  have  beautiful  bun- 
galows, gardens,  lawns  and  groves,  and  although  they 
complain  of  the  depression  of  the  industry,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  they  suffer  for  want  of  the  necessities  of 
life.  In  the  Darjeeling  district  are  about  two  hundred 
large  plantations,  employing  from  one  to  two  thousand 
laborers  each,  and  producing  about  12,000,000  pounds  a 
year.     Most  of  the  product  is  shipped  to  England, 

They  carry  you  up  the  mountains  in  tiny  little  cars  seat- 
ing six  persons  and  open  all  around  so  that  the  passengers 
can  take  in  all  there  is  to  see,  and  they  have  plenty  of 
scenery.  The  trains  are  not  allowed  to  run  faster  than 
six  miles  an  hour  as  a  precaution  against  accidents,  which 
allows  plenty  of  time  to  look  about,  and  they  twist  around 
so  that  you  can  see  things  from  various  points  of  view. 
And  if  a  passenger  gets  impatient  or  is  in  a  hurry  he  can 
jump  out  of  the  car  and  walk  ahead. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  views  from  Darjeeling  in- 
clude the  most  majestic  assemblage  of  mountains  on  the 
earth's  surface.  For  a  distance  of  200  miles  east  and 
west  there  arise  a  succession  of  peaks  not  less  than  22,000 
feet  high,  and  several  of  them  more  than  25,000.  In  the 
immediate    vicinity    and    within    sight    are    the    highest 


4i6  MODERN  INDIA 

mountains  in  the  world.  Everest,  the  king  of  mountains, 
which  measures  29,200  feet,  is  only  eighty  miles  distant ; 
Kinchin junga,  which  is  forty-five  miles  distant,  is  28,156 
feet  high,  and  also,  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  are  the  iol- 
lowing : 

Janu    25,304  Kabru   24,015 

Chumalari    23,943  Pauhanri .23,186 

Donkia    23,176  Baudim   22,017 

Narsingh    22,146  Kanhenjhan   22,500 

Chomaino 23,300 

Between  these  mountain  peaks  is  an  almost  continuous 
succession  of  snow  fields  and  glaciers  beyond  all  compar- 
ison. The  snow  line  is  17,000  feet  in  midsummer,  and  in 
winter  comes  down  to  12,000  and  15,000  feet,  and  when 
that  altitude  is  reached  snow  is  continuous  and  impass- 
able. This  is  the  highest  and  the  most  extensive  of  all 
mountain  ranges.  Along  the  northern  frontier  of  India 
for  2,000  miles  it  stands  like  a  vast  hedge,  the  most  for- 
midable natural  boundary  in  the  world,  nowhere  lower 
than  17,000  feet,  and  impassable  for  armies  the  entire 
distance,  with  the  exception  of  two  gateways :  Jeylup  Pass 
here  and  at  the  Khyber  Pass  of  which  I  told  you  in  a 
previous  chapter.  There  are  passes  over  the  snow,  but 
their  elevation  is  seldom  less  than  16,000  feet ;  the  aver- 
age elevation  of  the  watershed  exceeds  18,000  feet,  and 
the  great  plateau  of  Thibet,  which  lies  upon  the  other 
side,  is  between  15,000  and  16,000  feet  above  the  sea. 

This  plateau,  which  is  sometimes  called  the  "Roof  of 
the  World,"  is  700  miles  long  and  500  miles  wide,  and 
could  not  be  crossed  by  an  army  not  only  because  of  the 
winds  and  the  cold,  but  also  because  there  is  very  little 
water,  no  fuel  and  no  supplies.   No  invading  force  could 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  417 

possibly  enter  India  from  the  north  if  these  passes  were 
defended,  because  the  inhospitable  climate  of  Thibet  would 
not  sustain  an  army,  and  the  enormous  distance  and  alti- 
tude would  make  the  transportation  of  supplies  for  any 
considerable  force  practically  impossible.  During  the 
summer  the  plateau  is  covered  with  flocks  and  herds,  but 
when  the  cold  weather  comes  on  the  shepherds  drive 
them  into  the  foothills,  where  they  find  shelter.  The 
width  of  the  main  range  of  the  Himalayas  will  average 
about  500  miles  between  its  northern  and  southern  foot- 
hills ;  it  embraces  every  possible  kind  of  climate,  vegeta- 
tion and  natural  products,  and  is  a  vast  reservoir  from 
which  four  of  the  greatest  rivers  of  the  world  flow  across 
the  plains  of  India,  carrying  the  drainage  from  the  melt- 
ing snows,  and  without  this  reservoir  northern  India 
would  be  a  hopeless  and  dreary  desert. 

There  is  a  lively  dispute  among  geographers,  topogra- 
phers and  other  learned  pundits  of  the  scientific  bureaus 
of  the  Indian  government  as  to  whether  Everest  is  really 
the  king  of  the  mountains.  Other  peaks  in  the  group 
have  their  advocates,  and  over  in  Cashmere  are  several 
which  lift  their  heads  nearly  as  high  as  30,000  feet,  but 
few  of  them  have  been  accurately  measured,  and  the 
height  of  none  can  be  determined  with  exactness.  Mount 
Godwin,  in  Cashmere,  is  very  near  the  height  of  Everest, 
and  many  claim  that  Kinchin junga  is  even  higher. 

Darjeeling  is  a  sanitarium  of  the  greatest  benefit  to 
the  people  of  India.  The  town  is  made  up  chiefly  of 
hotels,  hospitals  and  summer  bungalows  belonging  to  the 
mercantile  class  of  Calcutta.  Few  officials  except  military 
officers  ever  go  there.  The  official  society  follows  the 
viceroy  to  Simla,  where  the  summer  is  always  gay,  but 
those  who  seek  health  and  rest  only  and  are   fond  of 


4i8  MODERN  INDIA 

nature  .prefer  Darjeeling.  The  hotels  are  good,  there 
are  plenty  of  boarding  houses,  there  are  hospitals  for  all 
sorts  of  infirmities,  and  perhaps  there  is  no  other  place 
in  the  world  with  such  an  ideal  climate  within  a  day's 
travel  of  the  tropics.  The  hotels,  villas,  boarding  houses, 
hospitals  and  asylums  are  scattered  all  over  the  hillside 
without  regularity  of  arrangement.  Wherever  a  level 
spot  has  been  found  some  kind  of  a  house  has  been 
erected,  usually  without  any  architectural  taste,  and  the 
common  use  of  corrugated  iron  for  building  material  has 
almost  spoiled  the  looks  of  the  place.  There  is  plenty 
of  timber,  and  the  great  mountains  are  built  of  stone, 
so  that  there  is  no  excuse  for  the  atrocious  structures 
that  have  been  erected  there. 

Everybody  who  comes  is  expected  to  get  up  at  half- 
past  3  in  the  morning  in  order  to  see  the  sun  rise. 
Everything  is  arranged  by  the  managers  of  the  hotel. 
They  have  fixed  the  sunrise  at  that  hour  in  order  to 
compel  their  guests  to  make  the  greatest  possible  effort 
to  see  it  because  they  will  thus  remember  the  incident, 
and  the  experience  will  remain  longer  in  their  memory. 
They  give  you  a  cup  of  cofifee  and  a  roll,  and,  if  you 
insist  upon  it,  you  can  get  an  egg,  although  the  cook  is 
not  inclined  to  be  obliging  at  that  hour  in  the  morning. 
They  put  you  in  a  sort  of  sedan  chair  called  a  "dandy," 
and  you  are  carried  by  four  men  seven  miles  up  the 
mountains  to  a  point  12,000  feet  above  the  sea.  From 
there  you  can  look  upon  the  most  impressive  spectacle  that 
human  eye  has  ever  witnessed,  the  rising  of  the  sun  over 
an  amphitheater  surrounded  by  the  highest  group  of 
peaks  on  the  globe.  Their  snow-covered  summits  are 
illuminated  gradually,  beginning  at  the  top,  as  if  a  search- 
light were  slowly  turned  upon   them.     Mount  Everest 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  419 

stands  in  the  center,  but  is  so  much  farther  away  that 
it  does  not  seem  so  much  higher  than  the  rest. 

There  is  little  mountain  climbing  in  India  compared 
with  the  Alps,  because  the  distances  and  the  difficulties 
are  so  great.  A  Boston  gentleman  and  his  wife  made 
the  ascent  of  Mount  Everest  in  1904,  and  it  is  claimed 
that  they  went  higher  than  anyone  had  ever  gone  before. 

Darjeeling  is  not  a  large  town,  but  it  is  filled  with  in- 
teresting people,  and  on  Sunday  a  market  is  held  in  the 
principal  bazaar  which  is  declared  to  be  the  most  pictur- 
esque and  fascinating  in  all  India.  Throngs  of  natives 
in  quaint  costumes  come  from  all  parts  of  the  country 
around,  representatives  of  tribes  which  do  not  often  stray 
so  far  away  from  their  homes.  They  come  from  Nepaul, 
Thibet,  Sikkim  and  the  surrounding  countries,  and  bring 
articles  of  home  manufacture  to  exchange  for  "store 
goods,"  The  features  of  the  people  are  unmistakable 
testimony  of  their  Mongolian  origin.  They  are  short  of 
stature,  with  broad,  flat  faces,  high  cheek  bones  and 
bright,  smiling  eyes  wide  apart.  The  men  grow  no 
beards,  but  have  long  pigtails  of  coarse  coal-black  hair. 
The  women  are  sturdy,  good-natured  and  unembarrassed  ; 
they  are  adorned  with  a  great  quantity  of  jewelry,  chiefly 
of  silver,  but  often  of  gold.  They  wear  circlets  around 
their  heads  made  of  coral,  turquoise,  amber,  agate,  jade 
or  other  precious  stones,  with  five  or  six  necklaces  and 
enormous  girdles  of  the  same  material.  Huge  ear  rings, 
four  or  five  inches  long,  pull  down  the  lobes  of  their  ears. 
Their  wrists  are  heavy  with  bracelets,  their  limbs  with 
anklets,  and  their  fingers  are  half  hidden  with  rings.  The 
entire  fortune  of  a  family  is  usually  invested  in  personal 
adornments  for  the  women  members.  They  find  this 
much  safer  than  savings  banks. 


420  MODERN  INDIA 

The  attention  of  the  world  has  recently  been  attracted 
in  that  direction  because  of  an  unusual  and  very  signifi- 
cant movement  of  the  Indian  government,  which,  in  the 
winter  of  1904,  took  advantage  of  the  embarrassments  of 
Russia  in  the  farther  East,  and  sent  a  military  expedi- 
tion over  the  northern  border  on  the  pretext  of  escorting 
a  diplomatic  mission.  Colonel  Younghusband  was  sent 
as  an  envoy  extraordinary — very  extraordinary — for,  with 
2,500  British  soldiers,  he  was  instructed  to  make  a  treaty 
of  commerce  and  good  will  with  the  Grand  Lama  of 
Thibet,  and  his  orders  were  to  stay  at  Lhassa  until  the 
treaty  was  negotiated  and  as  much  longer  as  was  neces- 
sary to  compel  the  Thibetans  to  respect  its  terms  and 
carry  out  its  stipulations.  That  means  the  permanent 
occupation  of  Lhassa  by  a  British  army  and  the  opening 
of  an  unknown  and  mysterious  region  to  trade. 

Thibet  is  the  unknown,  mysterious  country  of  the 
world,  a  land  of  desert  and  mountains  inhabited  by  a 
primitive  and  bigoted  people,  who  have  for  many  years 
been  under  the  protection  of  China,  and  paid  tribute  to 
the  emperor  until  the  late  war  with  Japan  in  1895. 
After  the  result  of  that  conflict  became  known  they 
seemed  to  lose  their  respect  for  and  confidence  in  their 
protectors  and  have  sent  no  envoys  or  money  to  Peking 
since.  We  know  very  little  about  Thibet.  Foreigners 
are  not  permitted  to  enter  the  country,  and  only  a  few 
venturesome  explorers  have  endured  the  hardships  and 
faced  the  dangers  of  a  visit  to  that  forbidden  land. 
Indeed,  it  is  so  perilous  an  undertaking  that  a  skeptical 
public  frequently  takes  the  liberty  to  doubt  the  state- 
ments of  the  men  who  have  gone  there.  But  all  agree 
that  it  is  the  hermit  of  nations,  and  its  people  are  under 
the  control  of  cruel  and  ignorant  Buddhist  priests,  who 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  421 

endeavor  to  prevent  them  from  acquiring  any  modern 
customs  or  ideas.  One  of  the  objects  of  Colonel  Young- 
husband's  expedition  is  to  change  this  situation  and  per- 
suade the  ignorant  and  bigoted  ecclesiastics  who  govern 
Thibet  to  open  their  gates  and  admit  foreign  merchants 
and  foreign  merchandise  into  that  benighted  country. 
There  is  considerable  commerce,  however.  Parties  of 
Thibetan  traders  are  continually  coming  across  the  fron- 
tier into  Darjeeling  with  all  sorts  of  native  products  and 
may  be  seen  in  the  market  that  is  held  every  Sunday 
morning  and  during  the  weekdays  in  the  bazaars  of  the 
city.  After  selling  their  goods  they  buy  cottons,  drugs, 
groceries,  hardware  and  other  European  goods  and  take 
them  back  into  their  own  country ;  but  foreigners  are  not 
allowed  to  pass  the  line,  and  practically  all  of  the  trade  of 
Thibet  is  monopolized  by  the  Chinese,  who  sell  the  natives 
large  quantities  of  cotton  fabrics  and  other  imported  mer- 
chandise as  well  as  tea,  silk  and  other  Chinese  goods. 
This  trade  is  supposed  to  be  worth  many  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  the  ability  of  India  to  furnish  the  tea  and  of 
England  to  furnish  the  manufactured  goods  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Thibet  may  need  is  considered  ample  reason 
for  sending  the  Younghusband  expedition  into  that  coun- 
try.    But  there  are  other  reasons  quite  as  important. 

Lying  between  Thibet  and  India  is  the  independent 
state  of  Nepal,  or  Nepaul,  the  home  of  the  Gurkhas,  one 
of  the  finest  fighting  races  in  the  world,  and  there  are 
eighteen  full  regiments  of  them  in  the  Indian  army.  The 
Gurkhas  are  a  mountain  people,  industrious,  temperate, 
hardy,  brave,  loyal,  honest  and  without  sense  of  fear. 
They  are  the  main  dependence  of  the  Indian  government 
among  the  native  troops.  Nepal  has  its  own  govern- 
ment and  the  people  are  proud  of  their  independence. 


422  MODERN  INDIA 

While  they  are  entirely  friendly  to  Great  Britain  and  have 
treaties  with  India  under  which  the  latter  extends  a  pro- 
tectorate over  the  province  and  enters  into  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance,  the  Maharaja  permits  no  British 
adviser  to  take  part  in  his  government  and  receives  a 
representative  of  the  viceroy  only  in  the  capacity  of  envoy 
or  minister  plenipotentiary.  The  latter  dare  not  inter- 
fere with  the  administration  of  the  government  and  never 
presumes  to  tender  his  advice  to  the  native  rulers  unless 
it  is  asked.  His  duties  are  chiefly  to  keep  the  viceroy 
at  Calcutta  informed  as  to  what  is  going  on  in  the  Nepal 
province  and  to  cultivate  the  good  will  of  the  officials  and 
the  people. 

There  has  never  been  a  census  of  Nepal  and  the  popula- 
tion has  been  variously  estimated  from  2,000,000  to 
5,000,000.  It  is  probably  near  the  latter  figure.  The 
people  are  mostly  engaged  in  raising  cattle,  sheep  and 
goats  and  growing  wheat,  barley  and  other  grains  in  the 
valleys.  The  principal  exports,  which  amount  to  about 
$8,000,000  a  year,  are  wool,  hides  and  grain,  and  the 
imports,  which  amount  to  about  $5,000,000,  are  cotton 
goods  and  other  wearing  apparel,  iron  and  steel,  cutlery 
and  other  manufactured  merchandise. 

The  people  of  Nepal  profess  the  Hindu  faith  and  have 
close  relations  with  the  Brahmins  at  Benares,  which  is  the 
Rome,  or  the  Mecca,  of  Brahminism.  They  sometimes 
in  the  past  have  been  bold  enough  to  defy  British  au- 
thority, and,  for  example,  protected  Nana  Sahib,  the 
leader  of  the  mutiny  of  1857,  and  gave  him  an  asylum 
when  he  fled  from  British  vengeance.  However  ami- 
cable the  relations  between  Nepal  and  the  British  govern- 
ment, the  latter  is  scrupulously  careful  not  to  furnish  any 
excuse  for  complaint  or  controversy,  because  a  collision 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  423 

with  this  powerful  people  would  not  only  result  in  the 
loss  of  the  finest  corps  in  the  Indian  army,  but  would 
make  it  extremely  unpleasant  for  the  people  of  Assam, 
Bengal,  Oudh  and  the  Punjab,  which  provinces  lie  next 
on  the  south. 

One  hundred  years  ago  an  army  from  Nepal  invaded 
Thibet  and  sacked  an  important  town.  The  Thibetans 
appealed  to  China,  which  had  not  yet  lost  its  military 
vigor,  and  sent  an  army  to  invade  Nepal.  It  came  within 
eighteen  miles  of  Gurkha,  the  capital,  when  the  Nepals 
proposed  a  parley,  paid  a  heavy  indemnity  and  entered 
into  a  treaty  of  permanent  peace,  promising  never  to  in- 
vade Thibet  again.  That  was  the  last  heroic  act  of  the 
Chinese  government,  and  then,  in  compliance  with  the 
terms  of  the  treaty,  all  the  passes  through  the  Himalaya 
Mountains  between  the  two  countries  were  permanently 
closed  by  common  consent,  and  in  many  cases  were  walled 
up  with  masonry,  adding  an  artificial  barrier  to  the  nat- 
ural wall.  It  was  also  agreed  that  there  should  be  no 
communication  across  the  border  and  that  the  inhabitants 
of  both  provinces  would  remain  upon  their  own  sides. 
This  prohibition  has  been  enforced  until  to-day,  and  has 
not  been  violated  except  by  Buddhist  priests  and  monks 
and  a  few  venturesome  explorers.  No  Englishman  may 
even  now  enter  Nepal  or  pass  from  Nepal  into  Thibet 
without  permission  from  the  authorities  of  both  govern- 
ments. 

Mindful  of  the  aggressive  policy  of  Russia,  which 
controls  Turkestan,  the  country  north  of  Thibet,  the 
British  government  some  years  ago  sent  an  envoy  named 
McCauley  to  Lhassa,  with  the  permission  of  the  Chinese 
government,  to  open  commercial  relations  with  Thibet  and 
find  another  market  for  the  tea  of  Assam  and  the  manu- 


424  MODERN   INDIA 

facturcd  merchandise  of  India.  But  he  was  unable  to 
do  anything.  He  could  not  induce  the  priests,  or  lamas, 
who  control  the  government,  to  negotiate  with  him.  They 
would  not  respond  to  his  advances  and  gave  him  plainly 
to  understand  that  they  did  not  care  to  improve  their 
relations  with  India.  Immediately  after  his  departure  the 
Thibetans  began  to  fortify  the  passes  over  the  moun- 
tains, and  invaded  the  little  province  of  Sikkim,  which  also 
adjoins  Thibet.  The  British  sent  up  troops  and  forbade 
the  continuance  of  the  work.  The  Thibetans  withdrew 
to  the  interior  and  agreed  to  make  a  commercial  treaty 
and  open  their  market  to  Indian  goods,  promising  to 
send  a  plenipotentiary  to  Calcutta  for  that  purpose  within 
six  months;  but  he  has  never  appeared,  and  frequent 
reminders  from  the  British  have  passed  without  notice. 

When  Lord  Curzon  came  to  India  he  determined  to 
reverse  the  policy  of  indifference  which  had  been  pursued 
by  Lord  Elgin,  his  predecessor.  The  opening  of  Thibet 
to  Indian  trade  has  been  one  of  the  principal  features  of 
his  administrative  programme.  In  1900  he  sent  to 
Lhassa  an  ambassador  in  the  person  of  Colonel  Young- 
husband,  a  distinguished  Asiatic  traveler,  who  speaks 
the  language  of  Thibet,  to  talk  things  over  and  persuade 
the  Dailai  Lama,  as  the  chief  ruler  of  Thibet  is  called, 
to  carry  out  his  promise  about  the  treaties.  The  Grand 
Lama  refused  to  receive  Colonel  Younghusband,  and 
would  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  him,  rejecting 
his  overtures  without  explanation  and  treating  his  mes- 
sages with  contempt. 

While  England  was  suffering  the  worst  of  the  disasters 
of  the  recent  war  in  South  Africa  the  Russian  government 
sent  a  secret  embassy  to  Lhassa,  carrying  rich  presents 
and  large  sums  of  money  to  the  Grand  Lama,  for  the 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  425 

ostensible  purpose  of  securing  permission  to  construct 
a  branch  from  its  Siberian  Railway  to  Lhassa  across 
Chinese  Turkestan.  The  Grand  Lama  afterward  sent 
an  embassy  to  return  the  visit  at  St.  Petersburg,  which 
was  received  with  great  honors  and  presented  with  rich 
gifts.  The  Grand  Lama,  in  recognition  of  these  atten- 
tions, conferred  upon  the  czar  the  title  of  "Lord  and 
Guardian  of  the  Gifts  of  Faith,"  It  is  the  supreme  Bud- 
dhist honor,  and  while  the  title  is  empty,  it  is  particularly 
significant  in  this  case,  because  it  implies  protection.  It 
is  believed  that  a  secret  treaty  was  made  under  which 
Russia  promised  to  guarantee  the  independence  of  Thibet 
and  protect  that  government  against  invasion  in  exchange 
for  the  privilege  of  constructing  a  railway  line  through  its 
territory.  The  Thibetans  are  supposed  to  have  accepted 
these  terms  because  of  their  fear  of  China.  Until  1895 
Thibet  was  a  province  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  paid 
tribute  to  the  emperor  every  year,  but  since  the  war  with 
Japan  the  Grand  Lama  has  sent  no  messenger  to  Peking, 
has  paid  no  tribute  and  has  ignored  the  Chinese  repre- 
sentative at  Lhassa.  The  priests  postponed  negotiations 
on  the  pretext  that  it  was  necessary  to  consult  Peking, 
and  promised  to  send  a  mission  to  Calcutta  within  six 
months,  but  never  have  done  so.  In  the  meantime  there 
has  been  continual  friction  on  the  border ;  the  Indian 
authorities  have  repeatedly  reminded  the  Grand  Lama 
of  his  promise  and  its  postponement,  but  he  has  stub- 
bornly refused  to  communicate  with  them,  and  has  even 
returned  their  communications  unopened. 

When  the  secret  relations  between  Russia  and  Thibet 
were  discovered  the  Chinese  authorities  were  naturally 
indignant  and  the  Indian  authorities  were  alarmed.  After 
a  conference  China  granted  permission  for  England  to  use 


426  MODERN  INDIA 

whatever  methods  it  thought  best  to  bring  the  Grand 
Lama  to  terms.  Thereupon  Colonel  Younghusband  was 
sent  to  Lhassa  again.  The  Grand  Lama  again  refused  to 
see  him,  declined  to  appoint  an  official  to  confer  with 
him  and  returned  his  credentials  unopened,  and  used 
other  means  to  show  his  indifference  and  contempt  for 
India  and  England. 

When  Younghusband  returned  to  Calcutta  and  re- 
ported the  failure  of  his  mission  and  the  insults  offered 
him  Lord  Curzon  decided  that  the  time  had  come  to  act, 
and  as  soon  as  preparations  could  be  made  Colonel 
Younghusband  started  back  to  Lhassa  escorted  by  2,500 
armed  men  and  carrying  provisions  for  two  years.  He 
was  instructed  to  avoid  collisions,  to  make  friends  with 
the  people,  to  establish  permanent  posts  on  the  line  of 
march  wherever  he  thought  necessary  and  to  remain  at 
Lhassa  until  he  secured  a  treaty  opening  the  markets  of 
Thibet  to  British  merchants.  The  treaty  is  made,  and 
by  its  terms  the  Thibetans  are  to  pay  England  an  indem- 
nity of  $3,750,000  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  expedition. 
Until  the  indemnity  is  paid  the  Indian  troops  will  con- 
tinue to  occupy  the  Churubi  Valley  which  leads  to 
Lhassa. 

Lord  Curzon  did  not  dispatch  this  expedition  and  un- 
dertake this  strategic  movement  without  considering  the 
present  situation  of  Russia.  The  czar  took  occasion  to 
engage  in  negotiations  not  only  with  Thibet,  but  with 
Afghanistan  also,  at  the  very  moment  when  England 
was  suffering  her  most  serious  disasters  and  embarrass- 
ments of  recent  history,  and  is  getting  tit  for  tat.  Before 
Colonel  Younghusband's  expedition  was  dispatched  the 
British  ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg  was  instructed  to 
inquire  if  the  Russian  government  had  any  relations  with 


THE  INVASION  OF  THIBET  427 

Thibet  or  any  interests  there,  and  was  officially  informed 
that  it  had  not,  hence  the  etiquette  of  the  situation  had 
been  complied  with  and  Lord  Curzon  was  perfectly  free 
to  act. 


XXVII 

BENARES,    THE    SACRED    CITY 

No  one  can  realize  what  an  awful  religion  Brahminism 
is  until  he  visits  Benares,  the  most  sacred  city  of  India, 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  the  most  sacred  river, 
more  holy  to  more  millions  of  human  souls  than  Mecca  to 
the  Moslem,  Rome  to  the  Catholic  or  Jerusalem  to  the 
Jew.  This  marvelous  city  it  so  holy  that  death  upon  its 
soil  is  equivalent  to  life  eternal.  It  is  the  gate  to  para- 
dise, the  abundant  entrance  to  everlasting  happiness,  and 
its  blessings  are  comprehensive  enough  to  include  all 
races,  all  religions  and  all  castes.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  be  a  Brahmin  or  to  worship  Siva  or  Krishna  or  any 
other  of  the  Hindu  gods,  nor  even  to  believe  in  them. 
Their  grace  is  sufficient  to  carry  unbelievers  to  the  Hindu 
heavens  provided  they  die  within  the  area  inclosed  by  a 
boulevard  encircling  this  city. 

There  are  in  Benares  2,000  temples  and  innumerable 
shrines,  25,000  Brahmin  priests,  monks,  fakirs  and  as- 
cetics, and  it  is  visited  annually  by  more  than  half  a  mil- 
lion pilgrims — a  larger  number  than  may  be  counted  at 
Mecca  or  Jerusalem,  or  at  any  other  of  the  sacred  cities 
of  the  world.  There  are  more  than  500,000  idols  estab- 
lished in  permanent  places  for  worship  in  Benares,  repre- 
senting every  variety  of  god  in  the  Hindu  pantheon,  so 
that  all  the  pilgrims  who  go  there  may  find  consolation  and 
some  object  of  worship.     There  are  twenty-eight  sacred 

428 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  429 

cows  at  the  central  temples,  and  perhaps  500  more  a, 
other  places  of  worship  throughout  the  city ;  the  trees 
around  the  temple  gardens  swarm  with  sacred  monkeys 
and  apes ;  there  are  twenty-two  places  where  the  dead 
are  burned,  and  the  air  of  the  city  is  always  darkened 
during  the  daytime  by  columns  of  smoke  that  rise  from 
the  funeral  pyres.  No  other  city,  not  even  London,  has 
so  many  beggars,  religious  and  otherwise ;  nowhere  can 
so  many  pitiful  spectacles  of  deformity  and  distress  be 
seen ;  nowhere  is  such  gross  and  repulsive  obscenity  and 
sensuality  practiced — and  all  in  the  name  of  religion ; 
nowhere  are  such  sordid  deceptions  imposed  upon  super- 
stitious believers,  and  nowhere  such  gloomy,  absurd  and 
preposterous  methods  used  for  consoling  sinners  and 
escaping  the  results  of  sin.  Although  Benares  in  these  re- 
spects is  the  most  interesting  city  in  India,  and  one  of  the 
most  interesting  in  the  world,  it  is  also  the  most  filthy, 
repulsive  and  forbidding.  Few  people  care  to  remain 
there  more  than  a  day  or  two,  although  to  the  ethnologist 
and  other  students,  to  artists  and  people  in  search  of  the 
picturesque,  it  has  more  to  offer  than  can  be  found  else- 
where in  the  Indian  Empire. 

Benares  is  as  old  as  Egypt.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest 
cities  in  existence.  It  was  already  famous  when  Rome 
was  founded ;  even  when  Joshua  and  his  trumpeters  were 
surrounding  the  walls  of  Jericho.  It  is  the  hope  of  every 
believer  in  Brahminism  to  visit  Benares  and  wash  away 
his  sins  in  the  water  of  the  sacred  Ganges ;  the  greatest 
blessing  he  can  enjoy  is  to  die  there;  hence,  the  palaces, 
temples,  and  lodging-houses  which  line  the  river  banks 
are  filled  with  the  aged  relatives  and  friends  of  their 
owners  and  with  pilgrims  who  have  come  from  all  parts 
of  India  to  wait  with  ecstatic  patience  the  summons  of 


430  MODERN  INDIA 

the  angel  of  death  in  order  to  go  straight  to  heaven. 

Nothing  in  all  their  religion  is  so  dear  to  devout  Hindus 
as  the  Ganges.  The  mysterious  cavern  in  the  Himalayas 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  source  of  the  river  is  the 
most  sacred  place  on  earth.  It  is  the  fifth  head  of  Siva, 
and  for  i,6oo  miles  to  its  delta  every  inch  of  the  banks 
is  haunted  with  gods  and  demons,  and  has  been  the  scene 
of  events  bearing  upon  the  faith  of  two-thirds  of  the  peo- 
ple of  India.  The  most  pious  act,  and  one  that  counts 
more  than  any  other  to  the  credit  of  a  human  soul  on 
the  great  books  above,  is  to  make  a  pilgrimage  from  the 
source  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges.  If  you  have  read 
Kipling's  story  of  "Kim,"  you  will  remember  the  anxiety 
of  the  old  lama  to  find  this  holy  stream,  and  to  follow  its 
banks.  Pilgrims  to  Benares  and  other  cities  upon  the 
Ganges  secure  bottles  of  the  precious  water  for  themselves 
and  send  them  to  friends  and  kindred  in  foreign  lands. 
No  river  in  all  the  world  is  so  worshiped,  and  to  die  upon 
its  sacred  banks  and  to  have  one's  body  burned  and  his 
ashes  borne  away  into  oblivion  upon  its  tawny  current  is 
the  highest  aspiration  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  people. 

The  Ganges  is  equally  sacred  to  the  Buddhist,  and 
Benares  is  associated  more  closely  with  the  career  of 
Buddha  than  any  other  city.  Twenty-five  hundred  years 
ago  Buddha  preached  his  first  sermon  there,  and  for  ten 
centuries  or  more  it  was  the  headquarters  of  Buddhism. 
Buddha  selected  it  as  the  center  of  his  missionary  work. 
He  secured  the  support  of  its  scholars,  teachers  and 
philosophers,  and  from  there  sent  forth  missionaries  to 
China,  Japan,  Burmah,  Ceylon,  the  Malay  Peninsula, 
Siam,  Thibet,  and  other  countries  until  half  the  human 
race  accepted  him  as  divine,  his  teachings  as  the  law  of 
God,  and  Benares  as  the  fountain  of  that  faith.     It  is  a 


A    HINDU    ASCETIC— BENARES 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  431 

tradition  that  one  of  the  wise  men  who  followed  the 
Star  of  Bethlehem  to  the  Child  that  was  cradled  in  a 
manger  was  a  learned  pundit  from  Benares,  and  it  is 
certainly  true  that  tlie  doctors  of  theology  who  have 
lived  and  taught  in  the  temples  and  monasteries  there 
have  exercised  a  greater  influence  upon  a  larger  number 
of  men  than  those  of  any  other  city  that  ever  existed. 
But  in  these  modern  days  Benares  is  wholly  given  over 
to  ignorance,  superstition,  vice,  filth  and  idolatry.  The 
pure  and  lofty  doctrines  of  Buddha  are  no  longer  taught. 
The  "Well  of  Knowledge"  is  a  filthy,  putrid  hole  filled 
with  slime  and  rotting  vegetation.  Buddhism  has  been 
swept  out  of  India  altogether,  and  Brahminism  is  taught 
and  practiced  there  in  its  most  repulsive  and  depraved 
forms. 

Occasionally  some  reformer  appears  who  endeavors  to 
rebuke  the  depravity  and  appeals  to  the  thinking  members 
of  the  Brahmin  sect  to  restore  the  ancient  philosophy 
and  morality  of  their  fathers.  I  saw  such  an  one  at 
Benares.  He  lives  in  a  bare  and  comfortless  temple  sur- 
rounded by  a  garden ;  is  entirely  dependent  upon  charity ; 
every  mouthful  of  food  that  he  eats  is  brought  to  him  by 
his  disciples.  He  spends  his  entire  time,  day  and  night, 
in  contemplation ;  he  sleeps  when  he  is  exhausted ;  he 
eats  when  food  is  handed  him,  and  if  he  is  neglected  he 
starves  until  some  thoughtful  person  brings  him  a  bowl 
of  rice  or  curry.  He  wears  nothing  but  a  single  shirt 
of  cotton ;  he  owns  nothing  in  all  the  world  except  a 
brass  bowl,  which  is  used  for  both  food  and  drink,  and 
a  few  relics  of  his  predecessor  and  teacher  whom  he  lived 
with  and  served  and  whose  mantle  fell  upon  him.  To 
those  who  come  to  his  temple  with  serious  minds  and 
anxious  to  know  the  truth,  he  talks  freely,  and  his  pride 


432  MODERN  INDIA 

is  gratified  by  having  his  visitors  inscribe  their  names  in 
a  large  book  which  is  kept  for  that  purpose.  And  con- 
tributions of  money  are  very  acceptable  because  they 
enable  his  disciples  to  circulate  his  thoughts  and  dis- 
courses in  printed  form.  I  noticed  that  most  of  the  names 
in  the  visitors'  book  were  those  of  Americans,  and  it 
occurred  to  me  that  his  contemplations  must  be  seriously 
disturbed  by  having  so  many  of  them  intrude  upon  him. 
But  he  assured  me  that  he  was  delighted  to  see  every 
stranger  who  called;  that  it  gratified  him  to  be  able  to 
explain  to  American  travelers  the  true  principles  of  Brah- 
minism  and  the  correct  doctrines  of  that  sect.  This  was 
the  more  important,  he  said,  because  nearly  every  for- 
eigner formed  his  impressions  of  Brahminism  by  what 
he  saw  and  heard  among  the  pilgrims  about  the  temples. 
It  is  only  by  contact  with  the  crowds  of  eager  pilgrims 
and  devotees  which  throng  the  streets  and  temples  of 
Benares  that  one  may  realize  the  vital  force  which  Brah- 
minism exercises  in  India.  Next  to  Mohammedanism  it 
is  the  livest  and  most  influential  and  practical  of  all  re- 
ligions. The  devotee  lives  and  breathes  and  feels  his 
faith.  It  enters  every  experience  of  his  career,  it  governs 
every  act,  and  compared  with  Brahminism,  Christianity 
is  perfunctory  and  exercises  practically  little  control  over 
its  believers.  Yet  Christianity  has  come  here,  as  it  has 
entered  all  the  other  sacred  cities  of  India,  and  under 
the  very  shadow  of  the  Hindu  holy  of  holies,  within  the 
circle  that  bounds  the  favored  gate  of  heaven,  it  has  set 
up  and  maintained  several  of  the  most  prosperous  and 
well  attended  schools  in  India.  The  government  has 
established  a  college  of  high  standard  in  a  handsome 
gothic  building,  which  many  consider  the  best  in  India. 
And  all  agree  that  it  is  an  admirable  institution.     It  has 


BENARES.  THE  SACRED  CITY  433 

about  seven  hundred  students  and  teaches  modern  sci- 
ences which  contradict  every  principle  that  the  Brahmins 
propose.  There  is  also  a  school  there  for  the  higher 
education  of  women  with  about  600  students,  maintained 
by  the  Maharaja  of  Vizianagram,  a  learned  and  progres- 
sive Hindu  prince,  who  has  large  estates  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  there  are  several  other  distinctly  modern  insti- 
tutions in  whose  light  Brahminism  cannot  live.  They 
are  growing  and  it  is  slowly  decaying.  The  number  of 
devotees  and  pilgrims  who  come  there  is  still  enormous, 
but  those  who  have  the  best  means  of  knowing  declare 
that  it  is  smaller  every  year.  But  while  the  decrease  is 
comparatively  small,  its  significance  is  great,  and  so  great 
that  prominent  Brahmins  have  recently  held  a  confer- 
ence to  consider  what  shall  be  done  to  protect  the  faith 
and  defend  it  against  the  vigorous  assaults  of  the  school 
teachers,  the  missionaries  and  the  materialists. 

It  does  not  take  Hindus  long  to  learn  that  the  teachings 
of  their  priests  do  not  conform  to  the  conditions  of  mod- 
ern civilization,  and  that  their  practices  are  not  approved 
by  those  who  believe  in  modern  standards  of  morals.  It 
is  difficult  for  an  educated  man  to  adhere  to  or  accept  the 
teachings  of  the  Hindu  priests  while  their  practices  are 
absolutely  repugnant  to  him.  The  church,  therefore,  if 
it  may  be  called  a  church,  must  be  reformed,  and  its  prac- 
tices must  be  revised,  if  the  decay  which  is  now  going  on 
is  ever  arrested. 

Several  religions  have  been  born  and  bred  and  have 
died  in  Benares.  Vedic,  Moslem,  Buddhist,  Brahmin 
have  been  nursed  and  flourished  and  have  decayed  within 
the  same  walls.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  when  the 
Ganges  was  first  worshiped,  or  when  people  began  to 
build  temples  upon  its  banks,  or  when  Benares  first  be- 


434  MODERN   INDIA 

came  sacred.  Water  was  one  of  the  first  objects  wor- 
shiped ;  the  fertiHzing  and  life  giving  influence  of  a 
stream  was  one  of  the  first  phenomena  of  nature  recog- 
nized. Ganga,  the  beautiful  heroine  of  a  Hindu  legend, 
is  supposed  to  have  lived  at  the  source  of  the  water  to 
which  her  name  is  given,  and  the  river  is  often  repre- 
sented as  flowing  from  the  head  of  Siva,  the  chief  deity 
of  the  Brahmins,  the  most  repulsive,  the  most  cruel,  the 
most  vicious  of  all  the  gods. 

Siva  is  at  once  the  generator  and  the  destroyer.  He 
represents  time,  the  sun,  water,  fire  and  practically  all  the 
mysteries  of  nature,  and  Benares  is  the  center  of  his  in- 
fluence and  worship.  The  temple  which  attracts  the  most 
pilgrims  is  dedicated  to  him.  The  "Well  of  Knowledge," 
which  is  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Golden  Temple,  is  his 
chosen  residence,  and  is  resorted  to  by  every  pilgrim 
who  drinks  the  putrid  water  from  a  ladle  with  which  it 
is  dipped  up  by  the  attendant  priest.  All  around  the 
Golden  Temple  are  other  temples  and  shrines  dedicated 
to  other  gods,  but  Siva  is  supreme,  and  before  his  image 
is  the  kneeling  bull,  the  common  symbol  of  Phallic  wor- 
ship as  represented  in  the  legend  of  Europe.  Siva's  hair  is 
a  bunch  of  snakes,  serpents  wind  around  his  neck,  arms, 
waist  and  legs;  a  crescent  is  stamped  upon  his  forehead, 
which  was  the  chief  symbol  of  the  ancient  cult  of  Arabia 
destroyed  by  Mohamet  Aurangzeb,  one  of  the  Mogul 
emperors,  who  was  a  Mohammedan  fanatic.  He  came 
here  in  the  middle  of  his  reign,  destroyed  half  the  Hindu 
temples  and  upon  the  ruins  of  the  oldest  and  the  finest 
shrine  of  Siva  erected  a  mosque  which  still  stands 
and  its  slender  minarets  almost  pierce  the  sky.  This 
mosque  was  thrust  into  the  most  sacred  place  of  Hindu 
worship  as  an  insult  to  the  Brahmins,  but  the  latter  are 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  435 

more  tolerant,  and  though  they  are  very  largely  in  the 
majority  and  control  everything  there,  they  permit  it  to 
stand  untouched,  but  the  worshipers  of  Islam  are  com- 
pelled to  enter  it  through  a  side  door.  This,  however,  is 
due  more  to  a  desire  to  preserve  the  peace  and  prevent 
collisions  between  fanatics  and  fakirs  than  for  any  other 
reason. 

The  great  temple  of  Siva,  the  Golden  Temple,  is  not 
imposing.  It  is  a  small  building  with  a  low  dome  in  the 
center  and  a  smaller  dome  at  each  corner,  above  which 
rises  an  artistic  tower.  These  and  the  roof  are  covered 
with  beaten  gold ;  hence  the  name  of  the  temple.  None 
but  Hindus  are  permitted  to  cross  the  threshold,  but 
strangers  are  permitted  to  block  up  the  entrance  and  see 
everything  that  is  going  on  inside.  It  is  crowded  with 
priests,  pilgrims  and  sacred  bulls  and  cows.  The 
floor  is  covered  with  filth,  the  air  is  fetid  and  the  at- 
mosphere all  around  it  reeks  with  offensive  odors,  sug- 
gesting all  kinds  of  disease.  There  is  always  a  policeman 
to  protect  strangers  from  injury  or  insult,  and  if  you  give 
the  priests  a  little  backsheesh  they  will  look  out  for  you. 

Benares  is  the  seventh  city  in  size  in  India.  Ten  years 
ago  it  was  fifth,  but  between  the  years  1891  and  1901 
the  population  was  reduced  10,000  inhabitants  by  cholera, 
famine  and  plague,  and  it  dropped  down  two  pegs  in  the 
list.  It  is  a  miracle  that  the  entire  population  does  not 
perish,  because,  notwithstanding  the  cautions  and  efforts 
of  the  government,  every  sanitary  law  is  violated  by 
thousands  of  people  daily.  The  temples  and  other  places 
frequented  by  pilgrims  are  filthy  hotbeds  of  disease,  and 
the  water  they  drink  from  the  holy  wells  is  absolutely 
putrid,  so  that  the  odor  can  be  detected  a  considerable 
distance.     And  yet  half  a  million  devotees  from  every 


436  MODERN  INDIA 

part  of  India  come  here  annually,  and  not  only  drink  the 
poisonous  stuff,  but  bathe  in  the  polluted  river  and  carry 
back  to  their  homes  bottles  of  it  carefully  corked  and 
labeled,  which  the  doctors  tell  us  is  an  absolutely  certain 
method  of  distributing  disease.  While  almost  all  the 
large  cities  of  India  increased  in  population  during  the 
the  last  decade,  Bombay  and  Benares  fell  off,  the  former 
from  plagues  and  famine  and  the  latter  from  all  kinds  of 
contagious  and  other  diseases. 

It  is  a  city  of  great  wealth  and  has  many  handsome 
and  costly  palaces  and  mansions  which  have  been 
erected  there  by  pious  Hindu  princes,  rajahs,  mer- 
chants, bankers  and  others  who  spend  a  part  of  each  year 
within  its  sacred  precincts,  renewing  their  relations  with 
the  gods  just  as  other  people  go  to  the  springs  and  sea- 
shore to  restore  their  physical  vitality.  The  residential 
architecture  is  picturesque  but  not  artistic.  The  houses 
are  frequently  of  fantastic  designs,  and  are  painted  in 
gay  colors  and  covered  with  carvings  that  are  often  gro- 
tesque. They  have  galleries  around  them,  and  broad 
overhanging  eaves  to  keep  out  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and 
many  of  them  are  set  in  the  midst  of  attractive  groves 
and  gardens.  Some  of  the  modern  buildings  are  very 
fine.  There  is  plenty  of  room  for  the  display  of  land- 
scape gardening  as  well  as  architecture,  but  the  former 
has  been  neglected.  The  one  thing  that  strikes  a  stranger 
and  almost  bewilders  him  is  the  vivid  colors.  They  seem 
unnatural  and  inappropriate  for  a  sacred  city,  but  are  not 
more  incongruous  than  other  features. 

The  streets  in  the  outer  part  of  the  city  are  wide,  well 
paved  and  well  shaded.  The  business  portion  of  the 
town,  where  the  natives  chiefly  live,  is  a  wilderness  of 
narrow  streets  hemmed  in  with  shops,  factories,  dwelling 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  437 

houses,  temples,  shrines,  restaurants,  cafes  and  boarding 
houses  for  pilgrims.  Every  shop  is  open  to  the  street, 
and  the  shelves  are  bright  with  brass,  silver  and  copper 
vessels  and  gaily  painted  images  of  the  gods  which  are 
purchased  by  the  pilgrims  and  other  visitors.  Benares 
is  famous  all  over  the  world  for  its  brass  work  and  its 
silks.  Half  the  shops  in  town  are  devoted  to  the  sale 
of  brass  vessels  of  various  kinds,  chiefly  bowls  of  many 
forms  and  styles  which  are  required  by  the  pilgrims  in 
performing  their  religious  duties.  In  addition  to  these 
there  are  a  hundred  different  varieties  of  domestic  and 
sacred  utensils,  many  of  them  beautifully  chased  and 
engraved,  and  they  are  sold  to  natives  at  prices  that  seem 
absurd,  but  foreigners  are  expected  to  pay  much  more. 
Indeed,  every  purchase  is  a  matter  of  prolonged  negotia- 
tion. The  merchant  fixes  his  price  very  high  and  then 
lowers  it  gradually  as  he  thinks  discreet,  according  to 
the  behavior  of  his  customer. 

Handmade  silks  from  looms  in  the  cottages  of  the 
peasants  can  still  be  purchased  in  Benares  and  they  wear 
forever.  Some  are  coarse,  and  some  are  fine,  but  they 
are  all  peculiar  to  this  place  and  cannot  be  purchased 
elsewhere  because  the  product  is  limited  and  merchants 
cannot  buy  them  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make  a  profit- 
able trade.  The  heavier  qualities  of  silk  are  used  chiefly 
for  men's  clothing.  They  wash  like  linen,  they  never 
wear  out  and  are  cool  and  comfortable.  The  brocades 
of  Benares  are  equally  famous,  and  are  used  chiefly  for 
the  ceremonial  dresses  of  the  rich  and  fashionable.  Some- 
times they  are  woven  of  threads  of  pure  gold  and  weigh 
as  much  as  an  armor.  These  are  of  course  very  expen- 
sive, and  are  usually  sold  by  weight.  Very  little  account 
is  taken  of  the  labor  expended  upon  them,  although  the 


438  MODERN  INDIA 

designs  and  the  workmanship  are  exquisite,  because  the 
weavers  and  embroiderers  are  paid  only  a  few  cents  a 
day.  Beside  these  heavy  fabrics  are  costly  tissues  as 
fine  as  spiders'  webs,  also  woven  of  silver  and  gold  and 
silk  and  linen.  They  are  used  by  the  women  as  head 
dresses  and  scarfs  and  rich  men  use  them  for  turbans. 
Sometimes  an  Indian  noble  will  have  seventy  or  eighty 
yards  of  this  delicate  gossamer  wound  about  his  head  and 
the  ends,  beautifully  embroidered,  with  long  fringes  of 
gold,  hang  gracefully  down  upon  the  shoulders. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  go  through  the  narrow  streets 
of  Benares  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  because  they  are  so 
crowded  with  men,  women,  children,  priests,  pilgrims, 
peddlers,  beggars,  mangy  dogs,  sacred  cows,  fat  and  lazy 
bulls  dedicated  to  Siva,  and  other  animate  and  inanimate 
obstructions.  It  seems  to  be  the  custom  for  people  to 
live  and  work  in  the  streets.  A  family  dining  will  occupy 
half  the  roadway  as  they  squat  around  their  brass  bowls 
and  jars  and  cram  the  rice  and  millet  and  curry  into  their 
mouths  with  their  fingers.  The  lower  classes  of  Hindus 
never  use  tables,  knives  or  forks.  The  entire  family  eats 
out  of  the  same  dish,  while  the  dogs  hang  around  waiting 
for  morsels  and  a  sacred  cow  is  apt  to  poke  its  nose  into 
the  circle  at  any  time.  The  street  is  often  blocked  up 
by  a  carpenter  who  is  mending  a  cabinet  or  putting  a  new 
board  into  a  floor. 

A  little  farther  along  a  barber  may  be  engaged  in 
shaving  the  face  and  head  of  some  customer.  Both  of 
them  are  squatting  face  to  face,  as  often  in  the  middle 
of  the  road  as  elsewhere,  and  with  bowls,  razors,  soap, 
bottles  and  other  appurtenances  of  the  trade  spread  out 
between  them.  Barbers  rank  next  to  priests  in  the  re- 
ligious aristocracy,  and,  as  it  is  forbidden  by  the  Brah- 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  439 

mins  for  a  man  to  shave  himself,  they  are  of  much  im- 
portance in  the  villages.  Houses  are  usually  set  apart 
for  them  to  live  in  just  as  we  furnish  parsonages  for  our 
ministers.  The  village  barber  has  certain  rights  and  ex- 
emptions that  are  not  enjoyed  by  other  people.  He  is  not 
required  to  do  military  service  in  the  native  states ;  he 
does  not  have  to  pay  taxes,  and  all  members  of  his  caste 
have  a  monopoly  of  their  business,  w^hich  the  courts  have 
sustained.  The  Brahmins  also  require  that  a  man  must 
be  shaved  fasting. 

Another  matter  of  great  importance  which  the  barbers 
have  to  do  with  is  a  little  tuft  of  hair  that  is  allowed  to 
grow  from  the  top  of  the  head  of  a  child  when  all  the  rest 
of  the  scalp  is  shaven.  This  is  a  commendable  precau- 
tion, and  is  almost  universally  taken  in  the  interest  of 
children,  the  scalp  lock  being  necessary  to  snatch  the 
child  away  from  the  devil  and  other  evil  spirits  when  it  is 
in  danger  from  those  sources.  As  the  person  grows 
older  and  capable  of  looking  after  himself  this  precaution 
is  not  so  important,  although  many  people  wear  the  scalp 
lock  or  sacred  topknot  through  life. 

The  sacred  thread  is  even  of  greater  importance  in 
Hinduism,  and  the  Brahmins  require  that  each  child 
shall  be  invested  with  it  in  his  eighth  year.  Until  that 
year  also  he  must  bear  upon  his  forehead  the  sign  of  his 
caste,  which  Ryas,  our  bearer,  calls  "the  god  mark."  The 
sacred  thread  is  a  fine  silk  cord,  fastened  over  the  left 
shoulder,  hanging  down  under  the  right  arm  like  a  sash. 
None  but  the  two  highest  castes  have  the  right  to  wear  it, 
although  members  of  the  lower  castes  are  even  more 
careful  to  do  so.  It  is  put  on  a  child  by  the  priest  or  the 
parent  on  its  eighth  birthday  with  ceremonies  similar 
and  corresponding  to  those  of  our  baptism.     After  the 


440  MODERN   INDIA 

child  has  been  bathed  and  its  head  has  been  carefully 
shaved  it  is  dressed  in  new  garments,  the  richest  that  the 
family  can  afford.  The  priest  or  godfather  ties  on  the 
sacred  thread  and  teaches  the  child  a  brief  Sanskrit  text 
called  a  mantra,  some  maxim  or  proverb,  or  perhaps  it 
may  be  only  the  name  of  a  deity  which  is  to  be  kept  a 
profound  secret  and  repeated  108  times  daily  throughout 
life.  The  deity  selected  serves  the  child  through  life  as 
a  patron  saint  and  protector.  Frequently  the  village  bar- 
ber acts  in  the  place  of  a  priest  and  puts  on  the  sacred 
thread.  A  similar  thread  placed  around  the  neck  of  a 
child,  and  often  around  its  waist  by  the  midwife  immedi- 
ately after  birth,  is  intended  as  an  amulet  or  charm  to 
protect  from  disease  and  danger.  It  is  usually  a  strand 
of  silk  which  has  been  blessed  by  some  holy  man  or 
sanctified  by  being  placed  around  the  neck  of  an  idol  of 
recognized  sanctity. 

The  streets  of  the  native  quarters  of  Indian  cities  are 
filled  with  naked  babies  and  children.  It  is  unfashionable 
for  the  members  of  either  sex  to  wear  clothing  until  they 
are  8  or  10  years  old.  The  only  garment  they  wear  is 
the  sacred  string,  with  usually  a  little  silver  charm  or 
amulet  suspended  from  it.  Sometimes  children  wear 
bracelets  and  anklets  of  silver,  which  tinkle  as  they  run 
about  the  streets.  The  little  rascals  are  always  fat  and 
chubby,  and  their  bright  black  eyes  give  them  an  appear- 
ance of  unnatural  intelligence.  The  children  are  never 
shielded  from  the  sun,  although  its  rays  are  supposed  to 
be  fatal  to  full  grown  and  mature  persons.  Their  heads 
being  shaved,  the  brain  is  deprived  of  its  natural  protec- 
tion, and  they  never  wear  hats  or  anything  else,  and  play 
all  day  long  under  the  fierce  heat  in  the  middle  of  the 
road  without  appearing  any  the  worse  for  it,  although 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  441 

foreign  doctors  insist  that  this  exposure  is  one  of  the  chief 
causes  of  the  enormous  infant  mortahty  in  India.  This 
may  be  true,  because  a  few  days  after  birth  babies  are 
strapped  upon  the  back  of  some  younger  child  or  are 
carried  about  the  streets  astride  the  hips  of  their  mothers, 
brothers  or  sisters  without  any  protection  from  the  sun. 

All  outdoors  is  an  Indian  barber-shop.  The  barbers 
have  no  regular  places  of  business,  but  wander  from 
house  to  house  seeking  and  serving  customers,  or  squat 
down  on  the  roadside  and  intercept  them  as  they  pass. 
In  the  large  cities  you  can  see  dozens  of  them  squatting 
along  the  streets  performing  their  sacred  offices,  shaving 
the  heads  and  oiling  the  bodies  of  customers.  Cocoanut 
oil  is  chiefly  used  and  is  supposed  to  add  strength  and 
suppleness  to  the  body.  It  is  administered  with  massage, 
thoroughly  rubbed  in  and  certainly  cannot  injure  anybody. 
In  the  principal  parks  of  Indian  cities,  at  almost  any  time 
in  the  morning,  you  can  see  a  dozen  or  twenty  men  being 
oiled  and  rubbed  down  by  barbers  or  by  friends,  and  a 
great  deal  of  oil  is  used  in  the  hair.  After  a  man  is 
grown  he  allows  his  hair  to  grow  long  and  wears  it  in  a 
knot  at  the  back  of  his  head.  Some  Hindus  have  an 
abundance  of  hair,  of  which  they  are  very  proud,  and 
upon  which  they  spend  considerable  care  and  labor. 

The  parks  are  not  only  used  for  dressing-rooms,  but 
for  bedrooms  also.  Thousands  of  people  sleep  in  the 
open  air  day  and  night,  stretched  full  length  upon  the 
ground.  They  wrap  their  robes  around  their  heads  and 
leave  their  legs  and  feet  uncovered.  This  is  the  custom 
of  the  Indians  of  the  Andes.  No  matter  how  cold  or 
how  hot  it  may  be  they  invariably  wrap  the  head  and  face 
up  carefully  before  sleeping  and  leave  the  lower  limbs 
exposed.    A  Hindu  does  not  care  where  he  sleeps.  Night 


442  MODERN   INDIA 

and  day  arc  the  same  to  him.  He  will  lie  down  on  the 
sidewalk  in  the  blazing  sunshine  anywhere,  pull  his  robe 
up  over  his  head  and  sleep  the  sleep  of  the  just.  You 
can  seldom  walk  a  block  without  seeing  one  of  these 
human  bundles  all  wrapped  up  in  white  cotton  lying  on 
the  bare  stone  or  earth  in  the  most  casual  way,  but  they 
are  very  seldom  disturbed. 

You  have  to  get  up  early  in  the  morning  to  see  the 
most  interesting  sights  in  Benares,  which  are  the  pilgrims 
engaged  in  washing  their  sins  away  in  the  sacred  but 
filthy  waters  of  the  Ganges,  and  the  outdoor  cremation 
of  the  bodies  of  people  who  have  died  during  the  night 
and  late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  preceding  day.  Hindus 
allow  very  little  time  between  death  and  cremation.  As 
soon  as  the  heart  ceases  to  beat  the  undertakers,  as  we 
would  call  the  men  who  attend  to  these  arrangements, 
are  sent  for  and  preparation  for  the  funeral  pyre  is  com- 
menced immediately.  Three  or  four  hours  only  are  nec- 
essary, and  if  death  occurs  later  than  i  or  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  the  ceremony  must  be  postponed  until  morn- 
ing. Hence  all  of  the  burning  ghats  along  the  river  bank 
are  busy  from  daylight  until  mid-day  disposing  of  the 
bodies  of  those  who  have  died  during  the  previous 
eighteen  or  twenty  hours. 

The  death  rate  in  Benares  is  very  high.  Under  ordi- 
nary circumstances  it  is  higher  than  that  of  other  cities  of 
India  because  of  its  crowded  and  unsanitary  condition, 
and  because  all  forms  of  contagious  diseases  are  brought 
by  pilgrims  who  come  here  themselves  to  die.  As  I  have 
already  told  you,  it  is  the  highest  and  holiest  aspiration 
of  a  pious  Hindu  to  end  his  days  within  an  area  encircled 
by  what  is  known  as  the  Panch-Kos  Road,  which  is  fifty 
miles  in  length  and  bounds  the  City  of  Benares.    It  starts 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  443 

at  one  end  of  the  city  at  the  river  banks,  and  the  other 
terminus  is  on  the  river  at  the  other  end.  It  describes  a 
parabola.  As  the  city  is  strung  along  the  bank  of  the 
river  several  miles,  it  is  nowhere  distant  from  the  river 
more  than  six  or  seven  miles.  All  who  die  within  this 
boundary,  be  they  Hindu  or  Christian,  Mohammedan  or 
Buddhist,  pagan,  agnostic  or  infidel,  or  of  any  other  faith 
or  no  faith,  be  they  murderers,  thieves,  liars  or  violators 
of  law,  and  every  caste,  whatever  their  race,  nationality 
or  previous  condition,  no  matter  whether  they  are  saints 
or  sinners,  they  cannot  escape  admission  to  Siva's  heaven. 
This  is  the  greatest  possible  inducement  for  people  to 
hurry  there  as  death  approaches,  and  consequently  the 
non-resident  death  rate  is  abnormally  high. 

We  started  out  immediately  after  daylight  and  drove 
from  the  hotel  to  the  river  bank,  where,  at  a  landing 
place,  were  several  boats  awaiting  other  travelers  as 
well  as  ourselves.  They  were  ordinary  Hindu  sampans 
— rowboats  with  houses  or  cabins  built  upon  them — and 
upon  the  decks  of  our  cabin  comfortable  chairs  were 
placed  for  our  party.  As  soon  as  we  were  aboard  the 
boatmen  shoved  off  and  we  floated  slowly  down  the 
stream,  keeping  as  close  to  the  shore  as  possible  without 
'jamming  into  the  rickety  piers  of  bamboo  that  stretched 
out  into  the  water  for  the  use  of  bathing  pilgrims. 

The  bank  of  the  river  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
and  imposing  panoramas  you  can  imagine.  It  rises  from 
the  water  at  a  steep  grade,  and  is  covered  with  a  series 
of  terraces  upon  which  have  been  erected  towers,  tem- 
ples, mosques,  palaces,  shrines,  platforms  and  pavilions, 
bathing-houses,  hospices  for  pilgrims,  khans  or  lodging- 
houses,  hospitals  and  other  structures  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  millions  of  people  who  come  there  from  every 


444  MODERN  INDIA 

part  of  India  on  religious  pilgrimages  and  other  missions. 
These  structures  represent  an  infinite  variety  of  architec- 
ture, from  the  most  severe  simpHcity  to  the  fantastic  and 
grotesque.  They  are  surmounted  by  domes,  pinnacles, 
minarets,  spires,  towers,  cupolas  and  canopies ;  they  are 
built  of  stone,  marble,  brick  and  wood ;  they  are  painted 
in  every  variety  of  color,  sober  and  gay ;  the  balconies 
and  windows  of  many  of  them  are  decorated  with  ban- 
ners, bunting  in  all  shapes  and  colors,  festoons  of  cotton 
and  silk,  garlands  of  flowers  and  various  expressions  of 
the  taste  and  enthusiasm  of  the  occupants  or  owners. 

From  the  Sparrow  Hills  at  Moscow  one  who  has  suffi- 
cient patience  can  count  555  gilded  and  painted  domes ; 
from  the  cupola  of  St.  Peter's  one  may  look  down  upon 
the  roofs  of  palaces,  cathedrals,  columns,  obelisks,  arches 
and  ruins  such  as  can  be  seen  in  no  other  place ;  around 
the  fire  tower  at  Pera  are  spread  the  marvelous  glories 
of  Stamboul,  the  Golden  Horn  and  other  parts  of  Con- 
stantinople ;  from  the  citadel  at  Cairo  you  can  have  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  one  of  the  most  typical  cities  of  the 
East;  from  the  Eiffel  Tower  all  Paris  and  its  suburbs 
may  be  surveyed,  and  there  are  many  other  striking  pan- 
oramas of  artificial  scenery,  but  nothing  on  God's  foot- 
stool resembles  the  picture  of  the  holy  Hindu  city  that 
may  be  seen  from  the  deck  of  a  boat  on  the  Ganges.  It 
has  often  been  described  in  detail,  but  it  is  always  new 
and  always  different,  and  it  fascinates  its  witnesses. 
There  is  a  repulsiveness  about  it  which  few  people  can 
overcome,  but  it  is  unique,  and  second  only  to  the  Taj 
Mahal  of  all  the  sights  in  India. 

A  bathing  ghat  is  a  pavilion,  pier  or  platform  of  stone 
covered  with  awnings  and  roofs  to  protect  the  pilgrims 
from  the  sun.     It  reaches  into  the  river,  where  the  water 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  445 

is  about  two  feet  deep,  and  stone  steps  lead  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  stream.  Stretching  out  from  these  ghats, 
in  order  to  accommodate  a  larger  number  of  people,  are 
wooden  platforms,  piers  of  slender  bamboo,  floats  and 
all  kinds  of  contrivances,  secure  and  insecure,  temporary 
and  permanent,  which  every  morning  are  thronged  with 
pilgrims  from  every  part  of  India  in  every  variety  of  cos- 
tumes, crowding  in  and  out  of  the  water,  carrying  down 
the  sick  and  dying,  all  to  seek  salvation  for  the  soul, 
relief  for  the  mind  and  healing  for  the  body  which  the 
Holy  Mother  Ganges  is  supposed  to  give. 

The  processions  of  pilgrims  seem  endless  and  are  at- 
tended by  many  pitiful  sights.  Aged  women,  crippled 
men,  lean  and  haggard  invalids  with  just  strength  enough 
to  reach  the  water's  edge ;  poor,  shivering,  starving 
wretches  who  have  spent  their  last  farthing  to  reach  this 
place,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  perishing  from  hunger  or 
disease,  struggle  to  reach  the  water  before  their  breath 
shall  fail.  Here  and  there  in  the  crowd  appear  all  forms 
of  affliction — hideous  lepers  and  other  victims  of  can- 
cerous and  ulcerous  diseases,  with  the  noses,  lips,  fingers 
and  feet  eaten  away ;  paralytics  in  all  stages  of  the  dis- 
ease, people  whose  limbs  are  twisted  with  rheumatism, 
men  and  women  covered  with  all  kinds  of  sores,  fanatical 
ascetics  with  their  hair  matted  with  mud  and  their  bodies 
smeared  with  ashes,  ragged  tramps,  blind  and  deformed 
beggars,  women  leading  children  or  carrying  infants  in 
their  arms,  handsome  rajahs,  important  officials  attended 
by  their  servants  and  chaplains,  richly  dressed  women 
with  their  faces  closely  veiled,  dignified  and  thoughtful 
Brahmins  followed  by  their  disciples,  farmers,  laborers 
bearing  the  signs  of  toil,  and  other  classes  of  human 
society  in  every  stage  of  poverty  or  prosperity.     They 


446  MODERN   INDIA 

crowd  past  each  other  up  and  down  the  banks,  bathinj:]^ 
in  the  water,  drying  themselves  upon  the  piers  or  floats, 
fiUinj;  bottles  and  brass  jars  from  the  sacred  stream, 
kneeling  to  pray,  listening  to  the  preachers  and  absorbed 
with  the  single  thought  upon  which  their  faith  is  based. 

Such  exhibitions  of  faith  can  be  witnessed  nowhere 
else.  It  is  a  daily  repetition  of  the  scene  described  in  the 
New  Testament  when  the  afflicted  thronged  the  healing 
pools. 

After  dipping  themselves  in  the  water  again  and  again, 
combing  their  hair  and  drying  it,  removing  their  drenched 
robes — all  in  the  open  air — and  putting  on  holiday  gar- 
ments, the  pilgrims  crowed  around  the  priests  who  sit  at 
the  different  shrines,  and  secure  from  them  certificates 
showing  that  they  have  performed  their  duty  to  the  gods. 
The  Brahmins  give  each  a  text  or  a  name  of  a  god  to 
remember  and  repeat  daily  during  the  rest  of  his  or  her 
life,  and  they  pass  on  to  the  notaries  who  seal  and  stamp 
the  bottles  of  sacred  water,  sell  idols,  amulets,  maps  of 
heaven,  charts  showing  the  true  way  of  salvation,  certifi- 
cates of  purification,  remedies  for  various  diseases,  and 
charms  to  protect  cattle  and  to  make  crops  grow.  Then 
they  pass  on  to  other  Brahmins,  who  paint  the  sign  of 
their  god  upon  their  forehead,  the  frontal  mark  which 
every  pilgrim  wears.  Afterward  they  visit  one  temple 
after  another  until  they  complete  the  pilgrimage  at  the 
Golden  Temple  of  Siva,  where  they  make  offerings  of 
money,  scatter  barley  upon  the  ground  and  drop  handfuls 
of  rice  and  grain  into  big  stone  receptacles  from  which 
the  beggars  who  hang  around  the  temples  receive  a  daily 
allowance.  Finally  they  go  to  the  priests  of  the  witness- 
bearing  god,  Ganasha,  where  the  pilgrimage  is  attested 
and  recorded.     Then  they  buy  a  few  more  idols,  images 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  447 

of  their  favorite  gods,  and  return  to  their  homes  with  a 
tale  that  will  be  told  around  the  fireside  in  some  remote 
village  during  the  rest  of  their  lives. 

But  the  most  weird  and  impressive  spectacle  at  Benares, 
and  one  which  will  never  be  forgotten,  is  the  burning  of 
the  bodies  of  the  dead.  At  intervals,  between  the  temples 
along  the  river  bank,  are  level  places  belonging  to  the 
several  castes  and  leased  to  associations  or  individuals 
who  have  huge  piles  of  wood  in  the  background  and  at- 
tend to  the  business  in  a  heartless,  mercenary  way.  The 
cost  of  burning  a  body  depends  upon  the  amount  and  kind 
of  fuel  used.  The  lowest  possible  rate  is  three  rupees 
or  about  one  dollar  in  our  money.  When  the  family 
cannot  afford  that  they  simply  throw  the  body  into  the 
sacred  stream  and  let  it  float  down  until  the  fish  devour 
it.  When  a  person  dies  the  manager  of  the  burning  ghat 
is  notified.  He  sends  to  the  house  his  assistants  or 
employes,  who  bring  the  body  down  to  the  river  bank, 
sometimes  attended  by  members  of  the  family,  some- 
times without  witnesses.  It  is  not  inclosed  in  a  coffin, 
but  lies  upon  a  bamboo  litter,  and  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances is  covered  with  a  sheet,  but  when  the  family  is 
rich  it  is  wrapped  in  the  richest  of  silks  and  embroideries, 
and  the  coverlet  is  an  expensive  Cashmere  shawl. 

Arriving  at  the  river  an  oblong  pile  of  wood  is  built 
up  and  the  body  is  placed  upon  it.  If  the  family  is  poor 
the  pile  is  low,  short  and  narrow,  and  the  limbs  of  the 
corpse  have  to  be  bent  so  that  they  will  not  extend  over 
the  edges,  as  they  often  do.  When  the  body  arrives  it  is 
taken  down  into  the  water  and  laid  in  a  shallow  place, 
where  it  can  soak  until  the  pyre  is  prepared.  Usually 
the  undertakers  or  friends  remove  the  coverings  from  the 
face  and  splash  it  liberally  from  the  sacred  stream.    When 


448  MODERN  INDIA 

the  pyre  is  ready  they  lift  the  body  from  the  Htter,  adjust 
it  carefully,  pile  on  wood  until  it  is  entirely  concealed, 
then  thrust  a  few  kindlings  underneath  and  start  the  blaze. 
When  the  cremation  is  complete  the  charred  sticks  are 
picked  up  by  the  beggars  and  other  poor  people  who  are 
always  hanging  around  and  claim  this  waste  as  their  per- 
quisite. The  ashes  are  then  gathered  up  and  thrown 
upon  the  stream  and  the  current  of  the  Ganges  carries 
them  away. 

Certain  contractors  have  the  right  to  search  the  ground 
upon  which  the  burning  has  taken  place  and  the  shallow 
river  bed  for  valuables  that  escaped  the  flames.  It  is 
customary  to  adorn  the  dead  with  the  favorite  ornaments 
they  wore  when  alive,  and  while  the  gold  will  melt  and 
diamonds  may  turn  to  carbon,  jewels  often  escape  com- 
bustion, and  these  contractors  are  believed  to  do  a  good 
business. 

All  this  burning  takes  place  in  public  in  the  open  air, 
and  sometimes  fifty,  sixty  or  a  hundred  fires  are  blazing 
at  the  same  moment.  You  can  sit  upon  the  deck  of  your 
boat  with  your  kodak  in  your  hand,  take  it  all  in  and  pre- 
serve the  grewsome  scene  for  future  reminiscencing. 

While  the  faith  of  many  make  them  whole,  while  re- 
markable cures  are  occurring  at  Benares  daily,  while  the 
sick  and  the  afflicted  have  assured  relief  from  every  ill 
and  trouble,  mental,  moral  and  physical,  if  they  can  only 
reach  the  water's  edge,  nevertheless  scattered  about 
among  the  temples,  squatting  behind  pieces  of  bamboo 
matting  or  lacquered  trays  upon  which  rows  of  bottles 
stand,  are  native  doctors  who  sell  all  sorts  of  nostrums 
and  cure-alls  that  can  possibly  be  needed  by  the  human 
family,  and  each  dose  is  accompanied  by  a  guarantee  that 
it  will  surely  cure.    These  fellows  are  ignorant  impostors 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  449 

and  the  municipal  authorities  are  careful  to  see  that  their 
drugs  are  harmless,  while  they  make  no  attempt  to  pre- 
vent them  from  swindling  the  people.  It  seems  to  be  a 
profitable  trade,  notwithstanding  the  popular  faith  in  the 
miraculous  powers  of  the  river. 

Another  class  of  prosperous  humbugs  is  the  fortune- 
tellers, who  are  found  around  every  temple  and  in  every 
public  place,  ready  to  forecast  the  fate  of  every  enterprise 
that  may  be  disclosed  to  them ;  ready  to  predict  good 
fortune  and  evil  fortune,  and  sometimes  they  display  re- 
markable penetration  and  predict  events  with  startling 
accuracy. 

Benares  is  as  sacred  to  the  Buddhists  as  it  is  to  the 
Brahmins,  for  it  was  here  that  Gautama,  afterward  called 
Buddha  (a  title  which  means  "The  Enlightened"),  lived 
in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  and  from  here  he  sent 
out  his  missionaries  to  convert  the  world.  Gautama  was 
a  prince  of  the  Sakya  tribe,  and  of  the  Rajput  caste.  He 
was  born  620  B.  C.  and  lived  in  great  wealth  and  luxury. 
Driving  in  his  pleasure  grounds  one  day  he  met  a  man 
crippled  with  age ;  then  a  second  man  smitten  with  an 
incurable  disease ;  then  a  corpse,  and  finally  a  fakir  or 
ascetic,  walking  in  a  calm,  dignified,  serene  manner. 
These  spectacles  set  him  thinking,  and  after  long  reflec- 
tion he  decided  to  surrender  his  wealth,  to  relinquish  his 
happiness,  and  devote  himself  to  the  reformation  of  his 
people.  He  left  his  home,  his  wife,  a  child  that  had  just 
been  born  to  him,  cut  off  his  long  hair,  shaved  his  head, 
clothed  himself  with  rags,  and  taking  nothing  with  him 
but  a  brass  bowl  from  which  he  could  eat  his  food,  and  a 
cup  from  which  he  could  drink,  he  became  a  pilgrim, 
an  inquirer  after  Truth  and  Light.  Having  discovered 
that  he  could  drink  from  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  he  gave 


450  MODERN   INDIA 

away  his  cup  and  kept  nothing  but  his  bowl.  That  is 
the  reason  why  every  pilgrim  and  every  fakir,  every  monk 
and  priest  in  India  carries  a  brass  bowl,  for  although 
Buddhism  is  practically  extinct  in  that  country,  the  teach- 
ings and  the  example  of  Gautama  had  a  perpetual  in- 
fluence over  the  Hindus. 

After  what  is  called  the  Great  Renunciation,  Gautama 
spent  six  years  mortifying  the  body  and  gradually  reduced 
his  food  to  one  grain  of  rice  a  day.  But  this  brought 
him  neither  light  nor  peace  of  mind.  He  thereupon 
abandoned  further  penance  and  devoted  six  years  to  medi- 
tation, sitting  under  the  now  famous  bo-tree,  near  the 
modern  town  of  Gaya.  In  the  year  588  B.  C.  he  obtained 
Complete  Enlightenment,  and  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life 
to  the  instruction  of  his  disciples.  He  taught  that  all 
suffering  is  caused  by  indulging  the  desires;  that  the 
only  hope  of  relief  lies  in  the  suppression  of  desire,  and 
impressed  his  principles  upon  more  millions  of  believers 
than  those  of  any  other  religion.  It  is  the  boast  of  the 
Buddhists  that  no  life  was  ever  sacrificed ;  that  no  blood 
was  ever  shed ;  that  no  suffering  was  ever  caused  by  the 
propagation  of  that  faith  and  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

After  he  became  "enlightened,"  Gautama  assumed  the 
name  of  Buddha  and  went  to  Benares,  w'here  he  taught 
and  preached,  and  had  a  monastery  at  the  town  called 
Sarnath,  now  extinct,  in  the  suburbs.  There,  surrounded 
by  heaps  of  ruins  and  rubbish,  stand  two  great  topes  or 
towers,  the  larger  of  which  marks  the  spot  where  Buddha 
preached  his  first  sermon.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been 
built  in  the  sixth  century  of  the  Chinese  era,  for  Hiouen 
Thsang,  a  Chinese  traveler  who  visited  Sarnath  in  the 
seventh  century,  describes  the  tower  and  monastery  which 
was  situated  near  it.     It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  451 

as  it  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  monuments  in  India,  but 
we  do  not  quite  understand  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
erected.  It  is  1 10  feet  high,  93  feet  in  diameter,  and  built 
of  solid  masonry  with  the  exception  of  a  small  chamber 
in  the  center  and  a  narrow  shaft  or  chimney  running  up 
to  the  top.  The  lower  half  is  composed  of  immense 
blocks  of  stone  clamped  together  with  iron,  and  at  inter- 
vals the  monument  was  encircled  by  bands  of  sculptured 
relief  fifteen  feet  wide.  The  upper  part  was  of  brick, 
which  is  now  in  an  advanced  state  of  decay  and  covered 
with  a  heavy  crop  of  grass  and  bushes.  A  large  tree 
grows  from  the  top. 

There  used  to  be  an  enormous  monastery  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, of  which  the  ruins  remain.  The  cells  and  chap- 
els were  arranged  around  a  square  court  similar  to  the 
cloisters  of  modern  monasteries.  A  half  mile  distant  is 
another  tower  and  the  ruins  of  other  monasteries,  and 
every  inch  of  earth  in  that  part  of  the  city  is  associated 
with  the  life  and  labor  of  the  great  apostle  of  peace  and 
love,  whose  theology  of  sweetness  and  light  and  gentle- 
ness was  in  startling  contrast  with  the  atrocious  doctrines 
taught  by  the  Brahmins  and  the  hideous  rites  practiced 
at  the  shrines  of  the  Hindu  gods.  But  these  towers  are 
not  the  oldest  relics  of  Buddha.  At  Gaya,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  "enlightenment,"  the  actual  birthplace  of 
Buddhism,  is  a  temple  built  in  the  year  500  A.  D.,  and  it 
stands  upon  the  site  of  one  that  was  700  or  800  years 
older. 

Benares  is  distinctly  the  city  of  Siva,  but  several  thou- 
sand other  gods  are  worshiped  there,  including  his  several 
wives.  Uma  is  his  first  wife,  and  she  is  the  exact  coun- 
terpart of  her  husband ;  Sati  is  his  most  devoted  wife ; 
Karali  is  his  most  horrible  wife ;  Devi,  another  of  his 


452  MODERN   INDIA 

wives,  is  the  goddess  of  death ;  Kali  is  the  goddess  of 
misfortune,  and  there  are  half  a  dozen  other  ladies  of  his 
household  whose  business  seems  to  be  to  terrorize  and 
distress  their  worshipers.  But  that  is  the  ruling  feature 
of  the  Hindu  religion.  There  is  no  sweetness  or  light'  in 
its  theology — it  exists  to  make  people  unhappy  and 
wretched,  and  to  bring  misery,  suffering  and  crime  into 
the  world. 

The  Hindus  fear  their  gods,  but  do  not  love  them, 
with  perhaps  the  exception  of  Vishnu,  the  second  person 
in  the  Hindu  trinity,  while  Brahma  is  the  third.  These 
three  are  the  supreme  deities  in  the  pantheon,  but  Brahma 
is  more  of  an  abstract  proposition  than  an  actual  god. 
For  purposes  of  worship  the  Hindus  may  be  divided  into 
two  classes — the  followers  of  Siva  and  the  followers  of 
Vishnu.  They  can  be  distinguished  by  the  "god  marks" 
or  painted  signs  upon  their  foreheads.  Those  who  wear 
red  are  the  adherents  of  Siva,  and  the  followers  of  Vishnu 
wear  white.  Subordinate  to  these  two  great  divinities 
are  millions  of  other  gods,  and  it  would  take  a  volume 
to  describe  their  various  functions  and  attributes. 

Vishnu  is  a  much  more  agreeable  god  than  Siva,  the 
destroyer;  he  has  some  human  feeling,  and  his  various 
incarnations  are  friendly  heroes,  who  do  kind  acts  and 
treat  their  worshipers  tolerably  well. 

The  "Well  of  Healing,"  one  of  the  holiest  places  in 
Benares,  is  dedicated  to  Vishnu.  He  dug  it  himself, 
making  a  cavity  in  the  rock.  Then,  in  the  absence  of 
water,  he  filled  it  with  perspiration  from  his  own  body. 
This  remarkable  assertion  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
foul  odor  that  arises  from  the  water,  which  is  three  feet 
deep  and  about  the  consistency  of  soup.  It  looks  and 
smells  as  if  it  might  have  been  a  sample  brought  from 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  453 

the  Chicago  River  before  the  drainage  canal  was  finished. 
It  is  fed  by  an  invisible  spring,  and  there  is  no  overflow, 
because,  after  bathing  in  it  to  wash  away  their  sins,  the 
pilgrims  drink  several  cups  of  the  filthy  liquid,  which 
often  nauseates  them,  and  it  is  a  miracle  that  any  of  them 
survive. 

One  of  the  most  curious  and  picturesque  of  all  the 
temples  is  that  of  the  goddess  Durga,  a  fine  building 
usually  called  the  Monkey  Temple  because  of  the  number 
of  those  animals  inhabiting  the  trees  around  it.  They 
are  very  tame  and  cunning  and  can  spot  a  tourist  as  far 
as  they  can  see  him.  When  they  see  a  party  of  strangers 
approaching  the  temple  they  begin  to  chatter  in  the  trees 
and  then  rush  for  the  courtyard  of  the  temple,  where  they 
expect  to  be  fed.  It  is  one  of  the  perquisites  of  the 
priests  to  sell  rice  and  other  food  for  them  at  prices  about 
ten  times  more  than  it  is  worth,  but  the  tourist  has  the 
fun  of  tossing  it  to  them  and  making  them  scramble  for  it. 
As  Durga  is  the  most  terrific  of  all  of  Siva's  wives,  and 
delights  in  death,  torture,  bloodshed  and  every  form  of 
destruction,  the  Hindus  are  very  much  afraid  of  her  and 
the  peace  offerings  left  at  this  temple  are  more  liberal 
than  at  the  others,  a  fact  very  much  appreciated  by  the 
priests. 

Another  of  the  most  notable  gods  worshiped  at  Benares 
is  Ganesa,  the  first  born  of  Siva  and  one  of  his  horrible 
wives.  He  is  the  God  of  Prudence  and  Policy,  has  the 
head  of  an  elephant,  which  is  evidence  of  sagacity,  and 
is  attended  by  rats,  an  evidence  of  wisdom  and  foresight. 
He  has  eight  hands,  and  from  the  number  of  appeals 
that  are  made  to  him  he  must  keep  them  all  busy.  He 
is  invoked  by  Hindus  of  all  sects  and  castes  before  under- 
taking any  business  of  importance.     It  is  asserted  that 


454  MODERN   INDIA 

none  of  the  million  deities  is  so  often  addressed  as  the 
God  of  Wisdom  and  Prudence.  If  a  man  is  undertaking 
any  great  enterprise,  if  he  is  starting  in  a  new  business, 
or  signing  a  contract,  or  entering  a  partnership ;  if  he  is 
about  to  take  a  journey  or  buy  a  stock  of  goods  or  engage 
in  a  negotiation,  he  appeals  to  Ganesa  to  assist  him,  and 
leaves  an  offering  at  one  of  his  temples  as  a  sort  of  bribe. 
If  a  woman  is  going  to  make  a  dress,  or  a  servant  changes 
his  employer,  or  if  anyone  begins  any  new  thing,  it  is 
always  safer  to  appeal  in  advance  to  Ganesa,  because  he  is 
a  sensitive  god,  and  if  he  does  not  receive  all  the  atten- 
tion and  worship  he  deserves  is  apt  to  be  spiteful.  Some 
people  are  so  particular  that  they  never  begin  a  letter 
without  saluting  him  in  the  first  line. 

Driving  along  the  roads  of  this  part  of  India  one  often 
sees  stones  piled  up  against  the  trunk  of  a  tree  and  at  the 
top  a  rude  elephant's  head,  decorated  with  flowers  or 
stained  with  oil  or  red  paint,  and  there  will  always  be  a 
little  heap  of  gravel  before  it.  That  elephant's  head  rep- 
resents the  god  Ganesa,  and  each  stone  represents  an 
offering  by  some  one  who  has  passed  by,  usually  the 
poorest,  who  have  not  been  able  to  visit  the  temple,  and, 
having  nothing  else  to  ofifer,  not  even  a  flower,  drop  a 
stone  before  the  rude  shrine. 

There  are  many  sacred  cows  in  Benares.  You  find 
them  in  temples  and  wandering  around  the  streets.  Some 
of  them  are  horribly  diseased  and  they  are  all  lazy,  fat 
and  filthy.  They  have  perfect  freedom.  They  are  al- 
lowed to  wander  about  and  do  as  they  please.  They  feed 
from  baskets  of  vegetables  and  salad  that  stand  before 
the  groceries  and  in  the  markets,  and  sometimes  con- 
sume the  entire  stock  of  some  poor  huckster,  who  dare 
not  drive  them  away  or  even  rebuke  them.    If  he  should 


BENARES,  THE  SACRED  CITY  455 

attempt  to  do  so  the  gods  would  visit  him  with  perpetual 
misfortunes.  Children  play  around  the  beasts,  but  no 
one  ever  abuses  them.  Pilgrims  buy  food  for  them  and 
stuff  them  with  sweetmeats,  and  it  is  an  act  of  piety  and 
merit  to  hang  garlands  over  their  horns  and  braid  ribbons 
in  their  tails.  When  they  die  they  are  buried  with  great 
ceremony,  like  the  sacred  bulls  of  Egypt. 

Benares  is  the  principal  center  of  the  idol  trade,  and  a 
large  part  of  the  population  are  engaged  in  making 
images  of  the  various  gods  in  gold,  silver,  brass,  copper, 
wood,  stone,  clay  and  other  materials.  Most  of  the  work 
is  done  in  the  households.  There  are  several  small 
factories,  but  none  employs  more  than  ten  or  a  dozen 
men,  and  the  streets  are  lined  with  little  shops,  no  bigger 
than  an  ordinary  linen  closet  in  an  American  house.  Each 
opens  entirely  upon  the  street,  there  are  no  doors  or  win- 
dows, and  when  the  proprietor  wants  to  close  he  puts 
up  heavy  wooden  shutters  that  fit  into  grooves  in  the 
threshold  and  the  beam  that  sustains  the  roof.  The 
shelves  that  hang  from  the  three  walls  are  covered  with 
all  kinds  of  images  in  all  sizes  and  of  all  materials,  and 
between  sales  the  proprietor  squats  on  the  floor  in  the 
middle  of  his  little  establishment  making  more.  The 
largest  number  are  made  of  brass  and  clay.  They  are 
shaped  in  rude  molds  and  afterward  finished  with  the  file 
and  chisel.  The  large  idols  found  in  the  temples  are 
often  works  of  art,  but  many  of  them  and  some  of  the 
most  highly  revered  are  of  the  rudest  workmanship. 

There  is  a  funny  story  that  has  been  floating  about  for 
many  years  that  most  of  the  idols  worshiped  in  heathen 
lands  are  made  in  Christian  countries  and  shipped  over 
by  the  car  load.  This  is  certainly  not  true  so  far  as 
India    is    concerned.     There    is    no    evidence    upon    the 


456  MODERN  INDIA 

records  of  the  custom-house  to  show  that  any  idols  are 
imported  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  manufacturer 
in  the  United  States  or  Europe  to  compete  with  the 
native  artisans  of  Benares  or  other  cities. 


XXVIII 

AMERICAN    MISSIONS   IN    INDIA 

About  5,000  missionaries  of  various  religions  and  cults 
are  working  among  the  people  of  India ;  two-thirds  of 
them  Protestants,  and  about  1,500  Americans,  including 
preachers,  teachers,  doctors,  nurses,  editors  and  all  con- 
cerned. Their  names  fill  a  large  directory,  and  they  rep- 
resent all  grades  and  shades  of  theology,  philosophy, 
morality  and  other  methods  of  making  human  beings 
better,  and  providing  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 
India  is  a  fertile  and  favorite  field  for  such  work.  The 
languid  atmosphere  of  the  country  and  the  contemplative 
disposition  of  the  native  encourage  it.  The  Aryan  always 
was  a  good  listener,  and  you  must  remember  that  India  is 
a  very  big  country — a  continent,  indeed,  with  a  mixed 
multitude  of  300,000,000  souls,  some  striving  for  the 
unattainable  and  others  hopelessly  submerged  in  bogs 
of  vice,  superstition  and  ignorance.  There  are  several 
stages  of  civilization  also.  You  can  find  entire  tribes 
who  still  employ  stone  implements  and  weapons,  and 
several  provinces  are  governed  by  a  feudal  system  like 
that  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages.  There  are  thousands 
who  believe  that  marriage  is  forbidden  by  the  laws  of 
nature ;  there  are  millions  of  men  with  several  wives,  and 
many  women  with  more  than  one  husband.  There  are 
tribes  in  which  women  control  all  the  power,  hold  all  the 
offices,  own  all  the  property  and  keep  the  line  of  inherit- 

4b7 


458  MODERN  INDIA 

ance  on  their  side.  There  are  vast  multitudes,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  India  who  beheve  that  women  have  no 
souls  and  no  hereafter,  and  advocate  the  murder  of  girl 
babies  as  fast  as  they  are  born,  saving  just  enough  to  do 
the  cooking  and  mending  and  to  keep  the  race  alive. 
Communities  that  have  reached  an  intellectual  culture 
above  that  of  any  nation  in  Europe  are  surrounded  by 
250,000,000  human  beings  who  cannot  read  or  write. 
There  are  thinkers  who  have  reasoned  out  the  profound- 
est  problems  that  have  ever  perplexed  mankind,  and 
framed  systems  of  philosophy  as  wise  as  the  world  has 
ever  known,  and  many  of  their  wives  and  daughters  have 
never  been  outside  of  the  houses  in  which  they  were  born  ; 
all  of  which  indicates  the  size  of  the  field  of  missionary 
labor  and  the  variety  of  work  to  be  done. 

India  contains  some  of  the  most  sublime  and  beautiful 
of  all  the  non-Christian  religions,  and  perfect  systems 
of  morals  devised  by  men  who  do  not  believe  in  a  future 
life.  More  than  60,000,000  of  the  inhabitants  accept 
Jesus  Christ  as  an  inspired  teacher  and  worship  the  same 
God  that  we  do  under  another  name,  and  more  than  three 
times  that  number  believe  that  the  Ruler  of  All  Things 
is  a  demon  who  delights  in  cruelty  and  slaughter  and 
gives  his  favor  only  in  exchange  for  suffering  and  tor- 
ture. A  tribe  in  northwest  India  believes  that  God  lives 
on  the  top  of  a  mountain  in  plain  sight  of  them,  and  up 
in  the  northeast  are  the  Nagas,  who  declare  that  after  the 
Creator  made  men  He  put  them  into  a  cellar  from  which 
they  escaped  into  the  world  because  one  day  he  forgot 
to  put  back  the  stone  that  covers  a  hole  in  the  top.  More 
fantastic  theories  about  the  origin  and  the  destiny  of  man 
are  to  be  found  in  India  than  in  any  other  country,  and 
those  who  have  faith  in  them  speak  167  different  Ian- 


AMERICAN  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA        459 

guages,  as  returned  by  the  census.  Some  of  these  lan- 
guages are  spoken  by  milHons  of  people;  others  by  a 
few  thousand  only ;  some  of  them  have  a  literature  of 
poetry  and  philosophy  that  has  survived  the  ages,  while 
others  are  unwritten  and  only  used  for  communication  by 
wild  and  isolated  tribes  in  the  mountains  or  the  jungles. 

Christian  missionaries  have  been  at  work  in  India  for 
four  hundred  years.  St.  Francis  Xavier  was  one  of  the 
pioneers.  Protestants  have  been  there  for  a  little  more 
than  a  century,  and  since  1804  have  distributed  13,000,000 
of  Bibles.  During  the  last  ten  years  they  have  sold 
5,000,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures  either  complete  or  in 
part;  for  the  Gospels  in  each  of  the  great  Indian  lan- 
guages, like  two  sparrows,  can  now  be  bought  for  a 
farthing.  In  1898,  497,000  copies  were  issued ;  in  1902, 
more  than  600,000;  and  thus  the  work  increases.  More 
than  140  colporteurs,  or  agents,  mostly  natives,  are  ped- 
dling the  Bible  for  sale  in  different  parts  of  India.  They 
do  nothing  else.  More  than  400  native  women  are 
engaged  in  placing  it  in  the  secluded  homes  of  the  Hindus 
among  women  of  the  harems,  and  teaching  them  to  read 
it.  No  commercial  business  is  conducted  with  greater 
energy,  eterprise  and  ability  than  the  work  of  the  Bible 
Society,  in  this  empire,  and  while  the  missionaries  have 
enormous  and  perplexing  difficulties  to  overcome,  they, 
too,  are  making  remarkable  headway. 

You  frequently  hear  thoughtless  people,  who  know 
nothing  of  the  facts,  but  consider  it  fashionable  to  sneer 
at  the  missionaries,  declare  that  Hindus  never  are  con- 
verted. The  official  census  of  the  government  of  India, 
which  is  based  upon  inquiries  made  directly  of  the  indi- 
viduals themselves,  by  sworn  agents,  and  is  not  compiled 
from  the  reports  of  the  missionary  societies,  shows  an 


46o  MODERN  INDIA 

increase  in  the  number  of  professing  Christians  from 
2,036,000  in  1891  to  2,664,000  in  1901,  a  gain  of  625,000, 
or  30  per  cent  in  ten  years,  and  in  some  of  the  provinces 
it  has  been  remarkable.  In  the  Central  Provinces  and 
United  Provinces  the  increase  in  the  number  of  persons 
professing  Christianity,  according  to  the  census,  was 
more  than  300  per  cent.  In  Assam,  which  is  in  the 
northeastern  extremity  of  India,  and  the  Punjab,  which 
occupies  a  similar  position  in  the  northwest,  the  increase 
was  nearly  200  per  cent.  In  Bengal,  of  which  Calcutta  is 
the  chief  city,  the  gain  was  nearly  50  per  cent ;  in  the 
province  of  Bombay  it  was  nearly  40  per  cent,  and  in 
Madras  and  Burmah  it  was  20  per  cent. 

The  dean  of  the  American  missionary  colony  is  Rev. 
R.  A.  Hume,  of  Ahmednagar,  who  belongs  to  the  third, 
and  his  daughter  to  the  fourth,  generation  of  mission- 
aries in  the  family.  He  was  born  in  Bombay,  where  his 
father  and  his  grandfather  preached  and  taught  for  many 
years.  Rev.  Mr.  Ballantine,  the  grandfather  of  Mrs. 
Hume,  went  over  from  southern  Indiana  in  1835  and 
settled  at  Ahmednagar,  where  the  Protestants  had  begun 
work  four  years  previous. 

The  first  Christian  mission  ever  undertaken  by  Ameri- 
cans in  a  foreign  country  was  at  Bombay  in  1813,  when 
Gordon  Hall  and  Samuel  Newall,  fresh  from  Williams 
College,  went  to  convert  the  heathen  Hindus.  The  gov- 
ernor general  and  the  officials  of  the  East  India  Company 
ordered  them  away,  for  fear  that  they  would  stir  up 
trouble  among  the  natives  and  suffer  martyrdom,  but 
they  would  not  go,  and  were  finally  allowed  to  remain 
under  protest.  A  Baptist  society  in  England  had  sent  out 
three  men — Messrs.  Carey,  Ward  and  Marshman — a  few 
years  before.     They  went  to  Calcutta,  but  the  East  India 


AMERICAN  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA         461 

Company  would  not  permit  them  to  preach  or  teach,  so 
they  removed  to  Gerampore,  where  they  undertook  evan- 
gelical work  under  the  protection  of  the  Dutch.  But 
nowadays  the  British  government  cannot  do  enough  to 
help  the  missionaries,  particularly  the  Americans,  who  are 
treated  in  the  same  generous  manner  as  those  of  the 
Established  Church  of  England,  and  are  given  grants  of 
money,  land  and  every  assistance  that  they  officially  could 
receive. 

Speaking  of  the  services  of  the  missionaries  during  the 
recent  famine.  Lord  Curzon?  said :  "I  have  seen  cases 
where  the  entire  organization  of  a  vast  area  and  the 
lives  of  thousands  of  beings  rested  upon  the  shoulders  of 
a  single  individual,  laboring  on  in  silence  and  in  solitude, 
while  his  bodily  strength  was  fast  ebbing  away.  I  have 
known  of  natives  who,  inspired  by  his  example,  have 
thrown  themselves  with  equal  ardor  into  the  struggle,  and 
have  unmurmuringly  laid  down  their  lives  for  their 
countrymen.  Particularly  must  I  mention  the  noble 
efforts  of  missionary  agencies  of  various  Christian  denom- 
inations. If  there  ever  was  an  occasion  in  which  it  was 
open  to  them  to  vindicate  the  highest  standards  of  their 
beneficent  calling  it  was  here,  and  strenuously  and  faith- 
fully have  they  performed  the  task." 

In  1901  the  government  of  India  recognized  the  labors 
and  devotion  of  the  American  missionaries  during  the 
previous  famine  by  bestowing  upon  Dr.  Hume  the 
Xaiser-I-Hind  gold  medal,  which  is  never  bestowed  except 
for  distinguished  public  services,  and  is  not  conferred 
every  year.  It  is  considered  the  highest  honor  that  can 
be  bestowed  upon  a  civilian. 

Sir  Muncherjee  Bharnajgree,  a  Parsee  member  of  par- 
liament, recently  asserted  that  the  American  missionaries 


462  MODERN  INDIA 

were  doing  more  for  the  industrial  development  of  the 
Indian  Empire  than  the  government  itself.  The  govern- 
ment recognizes  the  importance  of  their  work  and  has 
given  liberal  grants  to  the  industrial  schools  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  which  are  considered 
the  most  successful  and  perhaps  the  most  useful  in  India. 
It  is  significant  to  find  that  the  most  important  of  these 
schools  was  founded  by  Sir  D.  M.  Petit,  a  wealthy  Parsee 
merchant  and  manufacturer,  at  the  city  of  Ahmednagar, 
where  400  bright  boys  are  being  trained  for  mechanics 
and  artisans  under  the  direction  of  James  Smith,  formerly 
of  Toronto  and  Chicago.  D.  C.  Churchill,  formerly  of 
Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  a  graduate  of  the  Boston  School  of 
Technology,  a  mechanical  engineer  of  remarkable  genius, 
has  another  school  in  which  hand  weaving  of  fine  fabrics 
is  taught  to  forty  or  fifty  boys  who  show  remarkable 
skill.  ]\Ir.  Churchill,  who  came  out  in  1901,  soon  de- 
tected the  weakness  of  the  native  method  of  weaving, 
and  has  recently  invented  a  hand  loom  which  can  turn 
out  thirty  yards  of  cloth  a  day,  and  will  double,  and  in 
many  cases  treble,  the  productive  capacity  of  the  average 
worker.  And  he  expects  soon  to  erect  a  large  building 
in  which  he  can  set  up  the  new  looms  and  accommodate 
a  much  larger  number  of  pupils.  J.  B.  Knight,  a  scientific 
agriculturist  who  also  came  out  in  1901,  has  a  class  of 
forty  boys,  mostly  orphans  whose  fathers  and  mothers 
died  during  the  late  famine.  They  are  being  trained  in 
agricultural  chemistry  and  kindred  subjects  in  order  to 
instruct  the  native  farmers  throughout  that  part  of  the 
country.  Rev.  R.  Windsor,  of  Oberlin,  is  running 
another  school  founded  by  Sir  D.  M.  Petit  at  Sirur,  125 
miles  east  of  Bombay,  where  forty  boys  are  being  edu- 
cated as   machinists  and   mechanics.     At  Ahmednagar, 


AMERICAN  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA         463 

Mrs.  VVagentreiver  has  a  school  of  125  women  and  girls, 
mostly  widows  and  orphans  of  the  late  famine,  who  are 
being  taught  the  art  of  lacemaking,  and  most  of  her 
graduates  are  qualified  to  serve  as  instructors  in  other 
lace  schools  which  are  constantly  being  established  in 
other  parts  of  India.  There  is  also  a  school  for  potters, 
and  the  Americans  are  sending  to  the  School  of  Art  at 
Bombay  sixty  boys  to  be  designers,  draughtsmen,  illus- 
trators and  qualified  in  other  of  the  industrial  arts. 

It  is  interesting  to  discover  that  the  School  of  Indus- 
trial Arts  founded  by  Sir  D.  M.  Petit  at  Ahmednagar 
owes  its  origin  to  the  Chicago  Manual  Training  School, 
whose  aims  and  methods  were  carefully  studied  and 
applied  to  Indian  conditions  with  equally  satisfactory 
results.  The  principal  and  founder  of  the  school,  James 
Smith,  was  sent  out  and  is  supported  by  the  New  England 
Congregational  Church  on  the  North  Side,  Chicago,  and 
generous  financial  assistance  has  been  received  from  Mr. 
Victor  F.  Lawson  and  other  members  of  that  church. 
It  was  started  in  1891  with  classes  in  woodwork  and 
mechanical  drawing,  and  has  prospered  until  it  has  now 
outgrown  in  numbers  and  importance  the  high  school 
with  which  it  was  originally  connected. 

This  school  is  the  most  conspicuous  example  of  com- 
bined English  education  and  industry  in  western  India, 
and  has  received  the  highest  praise  from  government 
officers.  Its  grant  from  the  government,  too,  is  higher 
than  that  of  any  other  school  in  the  province.  The  gov- 
ernment paid  half  of  the  cost  of  all  the  buildings  and 
equipments,  while  a  very  large  part  of  the  other  half  was 
paid  by  people  of  this  country,  foremost  among  the 
donors  being  the  late  Sir  D.  M.  Petit,  Bart.,  who  built 
and  equipped  the  first  building  entirely  at  his  own  expense. 


464  MODERN  INDIA 

Mr.  Churchill's  workshops  have  also  been  very  highly 
commended  by  the  government  inspectors,  and  his  in- 
vention has  attracted  wide  notice  because  it  has  placed 
within  reach  of  the  local  weavers  an  apparatus  which  is 
an  immense  saving  in  labor  and  will  secure  its  operators 
at  least  three  times  the  results  and  compensations  for  the 
same  expenditure  of  time  and  toil.  It  thus  affords  them 
means  of  earning  a  more  comfortable  living,  and  at  the 
same  time  gives  the  people  a  supply  of  cheap  cotton 
cloth  which  they  require,  and  utilizes  defective  yarn 
which  the  steam  power  mills  cannot  use.  The  govern- 
ment inspectors  publicly  commend  Mr.  Churchill  for  de- 
clining to  patent  his  invention  and  for  leaving  it  free  to 
be  used  by  everybody  without  royalty  of  any  kind. 

It  is  exceedingly  gratifying  to  hear  from  all  sides 
these  and  other  similar  encomiums  of  the  American  mis- 
sionaries, and  it  makes  a  Yankee  proud  to  see  the  respect 
that  is  felt  for  and  paid  to  them.  Lord  Curzon,  the  gov- 
ernors of  the  various  provinces  and  other  officials  are 
hearty  in  their  commendation  of  American  men  and 
women  and  American  methods,  and  especially  for  the 
services  our  missionaries  rendered  during  the  recent 
famines  and  plagues.  They  testify  that  in  all  popular 
discontent  and  uprisings  they  have  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  for  peace  and  order  and  for  the  support  of  the 
government.  Lord  Northcote,  recently  governor  of  Bom- 
bay, in  a  letter  to  President  Roosevelt,  said : 

"In  Ahmednagar  I  have  seen  for  myself  what  prac- 
tical results  have  been  accomplished,  and  during  the 
famine  we  owed  much  to  the  practical  schemes  of  benevo- 
lence of  the  American  missionaries." 

On  the  first  of  January,  1904,  the  viceroy  of  India 
bestowed  upon  William  I.  Chamberlin  of  the  American 


AMERICAN  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA         465 

Mission  College  at  Madras  the  Kaiser-I-Hind  gold  medal 
for  his  services  to  the  public.  A  similar  medal  was  con- 
ferred upon  Dr.  Louis  Klopsch  of  the  Christian  Herald, 
New  York,  who  collected  and  forwarded  $6oo,cxx>  for 
direct  famine  relief  and  provided  for  the  support  of 
5,000  famine  orphans  for  five  years.  Other  large  sums 
were  sent  from  the  United  States.  The  money  was  not 
given  away.  The  American  committee  worked  in  co- 
operation with  the  agents  of  the  government  and  other 
relief  organizations,  so  as  to  avoid  duplication.  They 
provided  clothing  for  the  naked  and  work  at  reasonable 
wages  for  the  starving.  They  bought  seed  for  farmers 
and  assisted  them  to  hire  help  to  put  it  in  the  ground. 
The  rule  of  the  committee  in  the  disbursement  of  this 
money  was  not  to  pauperize  the  people,  but  to  help  those 
who  helped  themselves,  and  to  require  a  return  in  some 
form  for  every  penny  that  was  given.  Dr.  Hume  says: 
"The  gift  was  charity,  but  the  system  was  business." 
The  American  relief  money  directly  and  indirectly 
reached  several  millions  of  people  and  has  provided  for 
the  maintenance  and  education  of  more  than  five  thou- 
sand orphans,  boys  and  girls,  who  were  left  homeless 
and  helpless  when  their  fathers  and  mothers  died  of 
starvation.  More  than  320  widows,  entirely  homeless, 
friendless  and  dependent,  were  placed  in  comfortable 
quarters,  taught  how  to  work,  and  are  now  self-support- 
ing. Two  homes  for  widows  are  maintained  by  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board,  one  in  Bombay  in 
charge  of  Miss  Abbott  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Dean,  with 
nearly  200  inmates,  and  the  other  at  Ahmednagar,  in 
charge  of  Mrs.  Hume. 

The   medical   and   dispensary  work   of   the   American 
missions  is  also  very  extensive,  and  its  importance  to  the 


466  MODERN  INDIA 

peasant  class  and  the  blessings  it  confers  upon  the  poor 
cannot  be  realized  by  those  people  who  have  never  visited 
India  and  other  countries  of  the  East  and  seen  the  condi- 
tion of  women.  As  I  told  you  in  a  previous  chapter, 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  Hindu  population  of  India  will 
not  admit  men  physicians  to  their  homes  to  see  women 
patients,  and  the  only  relief  that  the  wives,  mothers  and 
daughters  and  sisters  in  the  zenanas  can  obtain  when 
they  are  ill  is  from  the  old-fashioned  herb  doctors  and 
charm  mixers  of  the  bazaars.  Now  American  women 
physicians  are  scattered  all  over  India  healing  the 
wounded  and  curing  the  sick.  There  are  few  from  other 
countries,  although  the  English,  Scotch  and  German  Luth- 
erans have  many  missions. 


XXIX 

COTTON,  TEA,  AND  OPIUM 

Next  to  the  United  States,  India  is  the  largest  cotton- 
producing  country  in  the  world,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  Galveston  and  New  Orleans,  Bombay  claims  to  be  the 
largest  cotton  market.  The  shipments  have  never  reached 
$50,000,000  a  year,  but  have  gone  very  near  that  point. 
Every  large  state  in  southern  India  produces  cotton,  but 
Bombay  and  Berar  are  the  principal  producers.  The 
area  for  the  whole  of  India  in  1902-3  was  14,232,000 
acres,  but  this  has  been  often  exceeded.  In  1893-4  the 
area  planted  was  nearly  15,500,000.  The  average  is 
about  14,000,000  acres.  Cotton  is  usually  grown  in  con- 
junction with  some  other  crop,  and  in  certain  portions 
of  India  two  crops  a  year  are  produced  on  the  same  soil. 
The  following  table  will  show  the  number  of  bales  pro- 
duced during  the  years  named : 

Bales  of  Bales  of 

400  lbs.  400  lbs. 

1892-3 1,924,000  1897-8 2,198,000 

1893-4 2,180,000  1898-9 2,425,000 

1894-5 1,957,000  1899-0 843,000 

1895-6 2,364,000  I9OO-I 2,309,000 

1896-7 1,929,000  I9OI-2 1,969,000 

The  failure  of  the  crop  in  1899- 1 900  was  due  to  the 
drought  which  caused  the  great  famine. 

About  one-half  of  the  crop  is  used  in  the  local  mills. 

467 


468  ^lODERN  INDIA 

The  greater  part  of  the  remainder  is  shipped  to  Japan, 
which  is  the  best  customer.  Germany  comes  next,  and, 
curiously  enough,  Great  Britain  is  one  of  the  smallest 
purchasers.  Indian  cotton  is  exclusively  of  the  short 
staple  variety  and  not  nearly  so  good  as  that  produced  in 
Egypt.  Repeated  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce 
Egptian  cotton,  but,  while  some  of  the  experiments  have 
been  temporarily  successful,  it  deteriorates  the  second 
year. 

The  cost  of  producing  cotton  is  very  much  less  than  in 
the  United  States,  because  the  land  always  yields  a  second 
crop  of  something  else,  which,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, ought  to  pay  taxes  and  often  fixed  charges,  as 
well  as  the  wages  of  labor,  which  are  amazingly  low, 
leaving  the  entire  proceeds  of  the  cotton  crop  to  be  counted 
as  clear  gain.  The  men  and  women  who  work  in  the 
cotton  fields  of  India  are  not  paid  more  than  two  dollars  a 
month.  That  is  considered  very  good  wages.  All  the 
shipping  is  done  in  the  winter  season ;  the  cotton  is 
brought  in  by  railroad  and  lies  in  bags  on  the  docks  until 
it  is  transferred  to  the  holds  of  ships.  During  the  winter 
season  the  cotton  docks  are  the  busiest  places  around 
Bombay. 

The  manufacture  of  cotton  is  increasing  rapidly.  There 
are  now  eighty-four  mills  in  Bombay  alone,  with  a  capital 
of  more  than  $25,000,000,  and  all  of  them  have  been  estab- 
lished since  1870,  including  some  of  the  most  modern, 
up-to-date  plants  in  existence.  The  people  of  Bombay 
have  about  $36,000,000  invested  in  mills,  most  of  it  being 
owned  by  Parsees.  There  are  mills  scattered  all  over  the 
country.  The  industry  dates  from  185 1,  and  during  the 
last  twenty  years  the  number  of  looms  has  increased  160 
per  cent  and  spindles  172  per  cent.     January  i,  1891,  there 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  469 

were  127  mills,  with  117,922  operatives,  representing  an 
investment  of  £7,844,000.  On  the  31st  of  March,  1904, 
according  to  the  official  records,  there  were  201  cotton 
mills  in  India,  containing  43,676,000  looms  and  5,164,360 
spindles,  with  a  combined  capital  of  £12,175,000.  This 
return,  however,  does  not  include  thirteen  mills  which 
were  not  heard  from,  and  they  will  probably  increase  the 
number  of  looms  and  spindles  considerably  and  the  total 
capital  to  more  than  $60,000,000. 

The  wages  paid  operatives  in  the  cotton  mills  of  India 
are  almost  incredibly  low.  I  have  before  me  an  official 
statement  from  a  mill  at  Cawnpore,  which  is  said  to  give 
a  fair  average  for  the  entire  country.  The  mills  of  Bom- 
bay, Madras  and  Calcutta  and  other  large  cities  pay 
about  one-half  more.  At  smaller  places  farther  in  the 
north  the  rates  are  much  less.  The  wages  are  given  in 
rupees  and  decimals  of  a  rupee,  which  in  round  numbers 
is  worth  33  cents  in  our  money. 

MONTHLY    WAGES    IN    A    COTTON    MILL   AT    CAWNPORE   FOR 

THE  YEARS  NAMED    (iN  RUPEES  AND  DECIMALS 

OF  A  rupee). 

1885.     1890.     1900.     1903. 

Cardroom — 

Head  mistry 17.00  24.80  34.90  33.00 

Card  cleaner  5.00  5.25  8.70  8.84 

Spare  hands 5.00  5.25  5.90  6.58 

Muleroom — 

Head  mistry 8.50  19.60  34.00  36.42 

Minder 5.00  6.37  6.20  7.12 

Spare  hands 5.00  5.00  6.00  6.50 

Weaving  department — 

Mistry   13.50  18.00  18.80  17.81 


470  MODERN  INDIA 

Heakler    5.00      5.50      7.60      7.09 

Weaver    6.00     10.50      8.62       9.14 

Finishing  department — 

Washers  and  bleachers ...  .  6.00  18.00  18.70  21.25 

Dyer  5.00  5.50  5.50  6.08 

Finishing  man    5.00  5.50  6.00  6.53 

Engineering  shop — 

Boiler   mistry    6.00  9.00  9.30  10.16 

Engine  man 8.00  11.00  10.80  14.62 

Oil  man   6.00  6.00  6.20  6.64 

Boiler  man    6.00  6.00  6.90  7.31 

Carpenter 10.00  10.00  11. 10  11.67 

Blacksmith     11.50  13.50  13.80  15.84 

Fitter    10.00  ii.oo  13.98 

These  wages,  however,  correspond  with  those  received 
by  persons  in  other  lines  of  employment.  The  postmen 
employed  by  the  government,  or  letter  carriers  as  we  call 
them,  receive  a  maximum  of  only  12.41  rupees  a  month, 
which  is  about  $3.50,  and  a  minimum  of  9.25,  which  is 
equivalent  to  $3.08  in  our  money.  Able-bodied  and 
skilled  mechanics — masons,  carpenters  and  blacksmiths — 
get  no  more  than  $2.50  to  $3.50  a  month,  and  book- 
keepers, clerks  and  others  having  indoor  occupations, 
from  $4.10  to  $5.50  per  month.  Taking  all  of  the  wage- 
earners  together  in  India,  their  compensation  per  month 
is  just  about  as  much  as  the  same  class  receive  per  day  in 
the  United  States. 

The  encouragement  of  manufacturing  is  one  of  the 
methods  the  government  has  adopted  to  prevent  or  miti- 
gate famines,  and  its  policy  is  gradually  becoming  felt 
by  the  increase  of  mechanical  industries  and  the  employ- 
ment of  the  coolie  class  in  lines  other  than  agriculture. 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  471 

At  the  same  time,  the  problem  is  complicated  by  the  fact 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  mechanical  products  of  India 
have  always  been  produced  in  the  households.  Each  vil- 
lage has  its  own  weavers,  carpenters,  brass  workers, 
blacksmiths  and  potters,  who  are  not  able  to  compete  with 
machine-made  goods.  Many  of  these  local  craftsmen 
have  attained  a  high  standard  of  artistic  skill  in  making 
up  silk,  wool,  linen,  cotton,  carpets,  brass,  iron,  silver, 
wood,  ivory  and  other  materials.  But  their  arts  must 
necessarily  decay  or  depreciate  if  the  local  markets  are 
flooded  with  cheap  products  from  factories,  and  there  a 
question  of  serious  consequence  has  arisen. 

There  is  very  active  rivalry  in  the  tea  trade  of  late 
years.  China  formerly  supplied  the  world.  Thirty  years 
ago  very  little  was  exported  from  any  other  country. 
Then  Japan  came  in  as  an  energetic  competitor  and  sent 
its  tea  around  everywhere,  but  the  consumption  increased 
as  rapidly  as  the  cultivation,  so  that  China  kept  her  share 
of  the  trade.  About  fifteen  years  ago  India  came  into 
the  market;  and  then  Ceylon.  The  Ceylon  export  trade 
has  been  managed  very  skillfully.  There  has  been  an 
enormous  increase  in  the  acreage  planted,  and  92  per 
cent  of  the  product  has  been  sent  to  the  United  King- 
dom, where  it  has  gradually  supplanted  that  of  China  and 
Japan.  Australia  has  also  become  a  large  consumer  "of 
India  tea,  and  the  loyalty  with  which  the  two  great  col- 
onies of  Great  Britain  have  stood  together  is  commenda- 
ble. In  England  alone  the  consumption  of  India  tea  has 
increased  nearly  70  per  cent  within  the  last  ten  years. 
This  is  the  result  of  careful  and  intelligent  efifort  on  the 
part  of  the  government.  While  wild  tea  is  found  in 
Assam  and  in  several  of  the  states  adjoining  the  Hima- 
layas, tea  growing  is  practically  a  new  thing  in  India 


4/2  MODERN  INDIA 

compared  with  China  aiul  Japan,  It  was  not  until  1830, 
when  Lord  WilHam  Benthinck  was  viceroy,  that  any  con- 
siderable amount  of  tea  was  produced  in  India.  He  in- 
troduced the  plant  from  China  and  brought  men  from 
that  country  at  the  expense  of  the  East  India  Company 
to  teach  the  Hindus  how  to  cultivate  it.  For  many  years 
the  results  were  doubtful  and  the  efforts  of  the  govern- 
ment were  ridiculed.  But  for  the  great  faith  of  two  or 
three  patriotic  officials  the  scheme  would  have  been  aban- 
doned. It  was  remarkably  successful,  however,  until 
now  the  area  under  tea  includes  more  than  half  a  million 
acres,  the  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  industry 
exceeds  750,000,  the  capital  invested  in  plantations  is 
more  than  $100,000,000  and  the  approximate  average 
yield  is  about  200,000,000  pounds.  In  1903  159,000,000 
pounds  were  exported  to  England  alone,  and  the  total 
exports  were  182,594,000  pounds.  The  remainder  is  con- 
sumed in  India,  and  more  than  a  million  pounds  annually 
are  purchased  for  the  use  of  the  army.  Among  other 
consumers  the  United  States  bought  1,080,000  and  China 
1,337,000  pounds.  Russia,  which  is  the  largest  consumer 
of  tea  of  all  the  nations,  bought  1,625,000  pounds,  and 
this  was  a  considerable  increase,  showing  that  India  tea  is 
becoming  popular  there. 

The  industry  in  India  and  Ceylon,  however,  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition,  the  area  under  cultivation  has  ex- 
panded 85  per  cent  and  the  product  has  increased  167  per 
cent  during  the  last  fifteen  years.  The  cultivation  is  lim- 
ited to  sections  where  there  is  a  heavy  rainfall  and  a 
humid  climate,  because  tea  requires  water  while  it  is 
growing  as  well  as  while  it  is  being  consumed.  Where 
these  conditions  exist  it  is  a  profitable  crop.  In  the 
valleys  of  Assam  the  yield  often  reaches  450  pounds  to  the 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  473 

acre.  The  quality  of  the  tea  depends  upon  the  manner  of 
cultivation,  the  character  of  the  soil,  the  amount  of 
moisture  and  sunshine  and  the  age  of  the  leaf  at  the  time 
of  picking.  Young,  tender  leaves  have  the  finest  flavor, 
and  bring  the  highest  prices,  but  shrink  enormously  in 
curing,  and  many  growers  consider  it  more  profitable  to 
leave  them  until  they  are  well  matured.  It  requires  about 
four  pounds  of  fresh  leaves  to  make  one  pound  of  dry 
leaves,  and  black  tea  and  green  tea  are  grown  from  the 
same  bush.  If  the  leaf  is  completely  dried  immediately 
after  picking  it  retains  its  green  color,  but  if  it  is  allowed 
to  stand  and  sweat  for  several  hours  a  kind  of  fermenta- 
tion takes  place  which  turns  it  black. 

There  are  now  about  236,000  acres  of  coffee  orchards 
in  India,  about  111,760  persons  are  employed  upon  them 
and  the  exports  will  average  27,000,000  pounds  a  year. 
The  coffee  growers  of  India  complain  that  they  cannot 
compete  with  Brazil  and  other  Spanish-American  coun- 
tries where  overproduction  has  forced  down  prices  below 
the  margin  of  profit,  but  the  government  is  doing  as  much 
as  it  can  to  encourage  and  sustain  the  industry,  and  be- 
lieves that  they  ought  at  least  to  grow  enough  to  supply 
the  home  market.  But  comparatively  little  coffee  is  used 
in  India.     Nearly  everybody  drinks  tea. 

Three  million  acres  of  land  is  devoted  to  the  cultivation 
of  sugar,  both  cane  and  beet.  During  the  Cuban  revolu- 
tion the  industry  secured  quite  an  impetus,  but  since  the 
restoration  of  peace  and  the  adjustment  of  affairs,  prices 
have  gone  down  considerably,  and  the  sugar  of  India 
finds  itself  in  direct  competition  with  the  bounty-paid 
product  of  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Austria  and  other 
European  countries.  In  order  to  protect  its  planters  the 
government  has  imposed   countervailing  duties  against 


474  MODERN  INDIA 

European  sugar,  biit  there  has  been  no  perceptible  effect 
from  this  poHcy  as  yet. 

The  indigo  trade  lias  been  very  important,  but  is  also 
in  peril  because  of  the  manufacture  of  chemical  dyes  in 
Germany  and  France.  Artificial  indigo  and  other  dyes 
can  be  produced  in  a  laboratory  much  cheaper  than  they 
can  be  grown  in  the  fields,  and,  naturally,  people  will  buy 
the  low-priced  article.  Twenty  years  ago  India  had  prac- 
tically a  monopoly  of  the  indigo  trade,  and  2,000,000 
acres  of  land  were  planted  to  that  product,  while  the 
value  of  the  exports  often  reached  $20,000,000.  The  area 
and  the  product  have  been  gradually  decreasing,  until,  in 
1902,  only  a  little  more  than  800,000  acres  were  planted 
and  the  exports  were  valued  at  less  than  $7,000,000. 

The  quinine  industry  is  also  in  a  deplorable  state. 
About  thirty  years  ago  the  Indian  government  sent 
botanists  to  South  America  to  collect  young  cinchona 
trees.  They  were  introduced  into  various  parts  of  the 
empire,  where  they  flourished  abundantly  until  the  export 
of  bark  ran  nearly  to  4,000,000  pounds  a  year,  but  since 
1899  there  has  been  a  steady  fall.  Exports  have  declined, 
prices  have  been  low,  and  the  government  plantations 
have  not  paid  expenses.  Rather  than  export  the  bark  at 
a  loss  the  government  has  manufactured  sulphate  at  its 
own  factories  and  has  furnished  it  at  cost  price  to  the 
health  authorities  of  the  native  states,  the  British  prov- 
inces, the  army  and  the  hospitals  and  dispensaries. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  places  about  Calcutta  is 
the  Royal  Botanical  Gardens,  where  many  important  ex- 
periments have  been  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  agricul- 
tural industry  of  India.  It  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  extensive  arboreums  in  the  world,  and  at  the  same 
time  its  economic  usefulness  has  been  unsurpassed  by  any 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  475 

similar  institution.  It  was  established  nearly  150  years 
ago  by  Colonel  Kyd,  an  ardent  botanist,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  East  India  Company,  and  from  its  foundation 
it  was  intended  to  be,  as  it  has  been,  a  source  of  botanical 
information,  a  place  for  botanical  experiments,  and  a 
garden  in  which  plants  of  economic  value  could  be  cul- 
tivated and  issued  to  the  public  for  the  purpose  of  intro- 
ducing new  products  into  India.  It  has  been  of  incal- 
culable value  in  all  these  particulars,  not  only  by  intro- 
ducing new  plants,  but  by  demonstrating  which  could  be 
grown  with  profit. 

The  garden  lies  along  the  bank  of  the  Ganges,  about 
six  miles  south  of  the  city,  and  is  filled  with  trees  and 
plants  of  the  rarest  varieties  and  the  greatest  beauty  you 
can  imagine.  No  other  garden  will  equal  it  except  per- 
haps that  at  Colombo.  It  is  272  acres  in  extent,  has  a 
large  number  of  ponds  and  lakes,  and  many  fine  avenues 
of  palms,  mahogany,  mangos,  tamarinds,  plantains  and 
other  trees,  and  its  greatest  glory  is  a  banyan  tree  which 
is  claimed  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world. 

A  banyan,  as  you  know,  represents  a  miniature  forest 
rather  than  a  single  tree,  because  it  has  branches  which 
grow  downward  as  well  as  upward,  and  take  root  in  the 
ground  and  grow  with  great  rapidity.  This  tree  is  about 
135  years  old.  The  circumference  of  its  main  trunk  five 
and  a  half  feet  from  the  ground  is  51  feet.  Its  topmost 
leaf  is  eighty-five  feet  from  the  ground.  It  has  464  aerial 
roots,  as  the  branches  which  run  down  to  the  ground  are 
called,  and  the  entire  tree  is  938  feet  in  circumference. 
It  is  large  enough  to  shelter  an  entire  village  under  its 
foliage. 

Several  other  remarkable  trees  are  to  be  found  in  that 
garden.     One  of  them  is  called  "The  Crazy  Tree,"  be- 


476  MODERN  INDIA 

cause  about  thirty-five  different  varieties  of  trees  have 
been  grafted  upon  the  same  trunk,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
it  bears  that  many  different  kinds  of  leaves.  Its  foHage 
suggests  a  crazy  quilt. 

Benares  is  the  center  of  the  opium  traffic  of  Iiidia, 
which,  next  to  the  land  tax,  is  the  most  productive  source 
of  revenue  to  the  government.  It  is  a  monopoly  inher- 
ited from  the  Moguls  in  the  middle  ages  and  passed 
down  from  them  through  the  East  India  Company  to  the 
present  government,  and  the  regulations  for  the  culti- 
vation, manufacture  and  sale  of  the  drug  have  been  very 
little  changed  for  several  hundred  years.  There  have 
been  many  movements,  public,  private,  national,  interna- 
tional, religious  and  parliamentary,  for  its  suppression ; 
there  have  been  many  official  inquiries  and  investigations  ; 
volumes  have  been  written  setting  forth  all  the  moral 
questions  involved,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  every  fact 
and  argument  on  both  sides  has  been  laid  before  the 
public ;  yet  it  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  no  official  com- 
mission or  legally  constituted  body,  not  a  single  English- 
man who  has  been  personally  responsible  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  people  of  India  or  has  even  had  an  influential 
voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire  or  has  ever  had  actual 
knowledge  and  practical  experience  concerning  the  effects 
of  opium,  has  ever  advocated  prohibition  either  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  poppy  or  in  the  manufacture  of  the  drug. 
Many  have  made  suggestions  and  recommendations  for 
the  regulation  and  restriction  of  the  trafltic,  and  the  exist- 
ing laws  are  the  result  of  the  experience  of  centuries. 
But  anti-opium  movements  have  been  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  missionaries,  religious  and  moral  agitators  in 
England  and  elsewhere  outside  of  India,  and  politicians 
who  have  denounced  the  policy  of  the  government  to 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  477 

obtain  votes  against  the  party  that  happened   to  be   in 
power. 

This  is  an  extraordinary  statement,  but  it  is  true.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  the  use  of  opium  in  any  form 
is  almost  universally  considered  one  of  the  most  danger- 
ous and  destructive  of  vices,  and  it  is  not  necessary  in 
this  connection  to  say  anything  on  that  side  of  the  con- 
troversy. It  is  interesting,  however,  and  important,  to 
know  the  facts  and  arguments  used  by  the  Indian  gov- 
ernment to  justify  its  toleration  of  the  vice,  which,  gen- 
erally speaking,  is  based  upon  three  propositions : 

1.  That  the  use  of  opium  in  moderation  is  necessary 
to  thousands  of  honest,  hard-working  Hindus,  and  that 
its  habitual  consumers  are  among  the  most  useful,  the 
most  vigorous  and  the  most  loyal  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Sikhs,  who  are  the  flower  of  the  Indian  army 
and  the  highest  type  of  the  native,  are  habitual  opium 
smokers,  and  the  Rajputs,  who  are  considered  the  most 
manly,  brave  and  progressive  of  the  native  population, 
use  it  almost  universally. 

2.  That  the  government  cannot  afford  to  lose  the 
revenue  and  much  less  afford  to  undertake  the  expense 
and  assume  the  risk  of  rebellion  and  disturbances  incurred 
by  any  attempt  at  prohibition. 

3.  That  the  export  of  opium  to  China  and  other  coun- 
tries is  legitimate  commerce. 

The  opium  belt  of  India  is  about  600  miles  long  and 
180  miles  wide,  lying  just  above  a  line  drawn  from 
Bombay  to  Calcutta.  The  total  area  cultivated  with 
poppies  will  average  575,000  acres.  The  crop  is  grown  in 
a  few  months  in  the  summer,  so  that  the  land  can  produce 
another  crop  of  corn  or  wheat  during  the  rest  of  the  year. 
About  1,475,000  people  are  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of 


478  MODERN  INDIA 

the  poppy  and  about  6,000  in  tlic  manufacture  of  the 
drug.  The  area  is  regulated  by  the  government  com- 
missioners. The  smallest  was  in  1892,  when  only  454,243 
acres  were  planted,  and  the  maximum  was  reached  in 
1900,  when  627,311  acres  were  planted.  In  the  latter 
year  the  government  adopted  625,000  acres  as  the  stand- 
ard area,  and  48,000  chests  as  the  standard  quantity  to 
be  produced  in  British  India.  Hereafter  these  figures 
will  not  be  exceeded.  The  largest  amount  ever  pro- 
duced was  in  1872,  when  the  total  quantity  manufactured 
in  British  India  was  61,536  chests  of  140  pounds  average 
weight.  The  lowest  amount  during  the  last  thirty-five 
years  was  in  1894,  when  only  37,539  chests  were  pro- 
duced. In  addition  to  this  from  20,000  to  30,000  chests 
are  produced  in  the  native  states. 

The  annual  average  value  of  the  crop  for  the  last 
twenty  years  has  been  about  $60,000,000  in  American 
money,  the  annual  revenue  has  been  about  $24,000,- 
000,  and  the  officials  say  that  this  is  a  moderate  estimate 
of  the  sum  which  the  reformers  ask  the  government  of 
India  to  sacrifice  by  suppressing  the  trade.  In  addition 
to  this  the  growers  receive  about  $5,500,000  for  opium 
"trash,"  poppy  seeds,  oil  and  other  by-products  which 
are  perfectly  free  from  opium.  The  "trash"  is  made  of 
stalks  and  leaves  and  is  used  at  the  factories  for  packing 
purposes ;  the  seeds  of  the  poppy  are  eaten  raw  and 
parched,  are  ground  for  a  condiment  in  the  preparation  of 
food,  and  oil  is  produced  from  them  for  table,  lubricating 
and  illuminating  purposes,  and  for  making  soaps,  paints, 
pomades  and  other  toilet  articles.  Oil  cakes  made  from 
the  fiber  of  the  seeds  after  the  oil  has  been  expressed  are 
excellent  food  for  cattle,  being  rich  in  nitrogen,  and  the 
young  seedlings,  which  are  removed  at  the  first  weeding 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  479 

o£  the  crop,  are  sold  in  the  markets  for  salad  and  are  very 
popular  with  the  lower  classes. 

No  person  can  cultivate  poppies  in  India  without  a 
license  from  the  government,  and  no  person  can  sell  his 
product  to  any  other  than  government  agents,  who  ship 
it  to  the  official  factories  at  Patna  and  Ghazipur,  down 
the  River  Ganges  a  little  below  Benares.  Any  violation 
of  the  regulations  concerning  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy, 
the  manufacture,  transport,  possession,  import  or  export, 
sale  or  use  of  opium,  is  punished  by  heavy  penalties,  both 
fine  and  imprisonment.  The  government  regulates  the 
extent  of  cultivation  according  to  the  state  of  the  market 
and  the  stock  of  opium  on  hand.  It  pays  an  average  of 
$1  a  pound  for  the  raw  opium,  and  wherever  necessary 
the  opium  commissioners  are  authorized  to  advance  small 
sums  to  cultivators  to  enable  them  to  pay  the  expense  of 
the  crop.  These  advances  are  deducted  from  the  amount 
due  when  the  opium  is  delivered.  The  yield,  taking  the 
country  together,  will  average  about  twelve  and  a  half 
pounds,  or  about  twelve  dollars  per  acre,  not  including 
the  by-products. 

The  raw  opium  arrives  at  the  factory  in  big  earthen 
jars  in  the  form  of  a  paste,  each  jar  containing  about 
873^  pounds.  It  is  carefully  tested  for  quaUty  and  purity 
and  attempts  at  adulteration  are  severely  punished.  The 
grower  is  paid  cash  by  the  government  agents.  The 
jars,  having  been  emptied  into  large  vats,  are  carefully 
scraped  and  then  smashed  so  as  to  prevent  scavengers 
from  obtaining  opium  from  them,  and  there  is  a  moun- 
tain of  potsherds  on  the  river  bank  beside  the  factory. 

Each  vat  contains  about  20,000  pounds  of  opium,  lying 
six  or  eight  inches  deep,  and  about  the  consistency  of 
ordinary  paste.     Hundreds  of  coolies  are  employed  to 


48o  MODERN  INDIA 

mix  it  by  trampling  it  with  their  bare  feet.  The  work  is 
severe  upon  the  muscles  of  the  legs  and  the  tramplers 
have  to  be  relieved  every  half  hour.  Three  gangs  are 
generally  kept  at  v^ork,  resting  one  hour  and  working 
half  an  hour.  Ropes  are  stretched  for  them  to  take  hold 
of.  After  the  stuff  is  thoroughly  mixed  it  is  made  up 
into  cakes  by  men  and  women,  who  wrap  it  in  what  is 
known  as  opium  "trash,"  pack  it  in  boxes  and  seal  them 
hermetically  for  export.  Each  cake  weighs  about  ten 
pounds,  is  about  the  size  of  a  croquet  ball,  and  is  worth 
from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars,  according  to  its  purity  under 
assay. 

The  largest  part  of  the  product  is  shipped  to  China,  but 
a  certain  number  of  chests  are  retained  for  sale  to  licensed 
dealers  in  different  provinces  by  the  excise  department. 
In  1904  there  were  8,730  licensed  shops,  generally  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  entire  empire.  But  it  is  claimed 
by  Lord  Curzon  that  the  average  number  of  consumers  is 
only  about  two  in  every  thousand  of  the  population. 

The  revenue  from  licenses  is  very  large.  No  dealer 
is  permitted  to  sell  more  than  three  tolas  (about  one  and 
one-eighth  ounces)  to  any  person,  and  no  opium  can  be 
consumed  upon  the  premises  of  the  dealer.  Private 
smoking  clubs  and  public  opium  dens  were  forbidden  in 
1891,  but  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  law  has  been  con- 
sidered inexpedient  for  many  reasons,  chief  of  which  is 
that  less  opium  is  consumed  when  it  is  smoked  in  these 
places  than  when  it  is  used  privately  in  the  form  of  pills, 
which  are  more  common  in  India  than  elsewhere.  Fre- 
quent investigation  has  demonstrated  that  opium  con- 
sumers are  more  apt  to  use  it  to  excess  when  it  is  taken 
in  private  than  when  it  is  taken  in  company,  and  there 
are    innumerable    regulations    for    the    government    of 


COTTON,  TEA  AND  OPIUM  481 

smoking-rooms  and  clubs  and  for  the  restriction  and  dis- 
couragement of  the  habit.  The  amount  consumed  in 
India  is  about  871,820  pounds  annually.  The  amount  ex- 
ported will  average  9,800,000  pounds. 

Opium  intended  for  export  is  sold  at  auction  at  Cal- 
cutta at  the  beginning  of  every  month,  and,  in  order  to 
prevent  speculation,  the  number  of  chests  to  be  sold  each 
month  during  the  year  is  announced  in  January.  Con- 
siderable fluctuation  in  prices  is  caused  by  the  demand 
and  the  supply  on  hand  in  China.  The  lowest  price  on 
record  was  obtained  at  the  June  sale  in  1898,  when  all 
that  was  offered  went  for  929  rupees  per  chest  of  140 
pounds,  while  the  highest  price  ever  obtained  was  1,450 
rupees  per  chest.  The  exports  of  opium  vary  consid- 
erably. The  maximum,  86,469  chests,  was  reached  in 
1891  ;  the  minimum,  59,632,  in  1896. 

The  consumption  in  India  during  the  last  few  years 
has  apparently  decreased.  This  is  attributed  to  several 
reasons,  inclu(iing  increased  prices,  restrictive  measures 
for  the  suppression  of  the  vice,  the  famine,  changes  in  the 
habits  of  the  people,  and  smuggling;  but  it  is  the  con- 
viction of  all  the  officials  concerned  in  handling  opium 
that  its  use  is  not  so  general  as  formerly,  and  its  abuse  is 
very  small.  They  claim  that  it  is  used  chiefly  by  hard- 
working people  and  enables  them  to  resist  fatigue  and 
sustain  privation,  and  that  the  prevailing  opinion  that 
opium  consumers  are  all  degraded,  depraved  and  miser- 
able wretches,  enfeebled  in  body  and  mind,  is  not  true. 
It  is  asserted  by  the  inspectors  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
opium  sold  in  India  is  used  by  moderate  people,  who  take 
their  daily  dose  and  are  actually  benefited  rather  than  in- 
jured by  it.  At  the  same  time  it  is  admitted  that  the  drug 
is  abused  by  many,  and  that  the  habit  is  usually  acquired 


482  MODERN  INDIA 

by  people  suffering  from  painful  diseases,  who  begin  by 
taking  a  little  for  relief  and  gradually  increase  the  dose 
until  they  cannot  live  without  it. 

In  1895  an  unusually  active  agitation  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  trade  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  parlia- 
mentary commission,  of  which  Lord  Brassey  was  chair- 
man. They  made  a  thorough  investigation,  spending 
several  months  in  India,  examining  more  than  seven 
hundred  witnesses,  of  which  466  were  natives,  and  their 
conclusions  were  that  it  is  the  abuse  and  not  the  use  of 
opium  that  is  harmful,  and  "that  its  use  among  the  people 
of  India  as  a  rule  is  a  moderate  use,  that  excess  is  excep- 
tional and  is  condemned  by  public  opinion ;  that  the  use 
of  opium  in  moderation  is  not  attended  by  injurious  con- 
sequences, and  that  no  extended  physical  or  moral 
degradation  is  caused  by  the  habit." 


XXX 

CALCUTTA,   THE   CAPITAL  OF   INDIA 

Calcutta  is  a  modern  city  compared  with  the  rest  of 
India.  It  has  been  built  around  old  Fort  William,  which 
was  the  headquarters  of  the  East  India  Company  200 
years  ago,  and  is  situated  upon  the  bank  of  the  River 
Hoogly,  one  of  the  many  mouths  of  the  Ganges,  about 
ninety  miles  from  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  The  current  is  so 
swift  and  the  channel  changes  so  frequently  that  the  river 
cannot  be  navigated  at  night,  nor  without  a  pilot.  The 
native  pilots  are  remarkably  skillful  navigators,  and  seem 
to  know  by  instinct  how  the  shoals  shift.  For  several 
miles  below  the  city  the  banks  of  the  river  are  lined  with 
factories  of  all  kinds,  which  have  added  great  wealth  to 
the  empire.  Old  Fort  William  disappeared  many  years 
ago,  and  a  new  fort  was  erected  a  mile  or  two  farther 
down  the  river,  where  it  could  command  the  approaches 
to  the  city,  but  that  also  is  now  old-fashioned,  and  could 
not  do  much  execution  if  Calcutta  were  attacked.  The 
fortifications  near  the  mouth  of  the  river  are  supposed  to 
be  quite  formidable,  but  Calcutta  is  not  a  citadel,  and  in 
case  of  war  must  be  defended  by  battle  ships  and  other 
floating  fortresses.  It  is  one  of  the  cities  of  India  which 
shows  a  rapid  growth  of  population,  the  gain  during  ten 
years  having  been  187,178,  making  the  total  population, 
by  the  census  of  1901,  1,026,987. 

The  city  takes  its  name  from  a  village  which  stood  in 

483 


484  MODERN  INDIA 

the  neighborhood  at  the  time  the  East  India  Company 
located  there.  It  was  famous  for  a  temple  erected  in  honor 
of  Kali,  the  fearful  wife  of  the  god  Siva,  the  most  cruel, 
vindictive  and  relentless  of  all  the  heathen  deities.  The 
temple  still  stands,  being  more  than  400  years  old,  and 
"Kali,  the  Black  One,"  still  sits  upon  her  altar,  hideous 
in  appearance,  gorgon-headed,  wearing  a  necklace  of 
human  skulls  and  dripping  with  fresh  blood  from  the 
morning  sacrifice  of  sheep  and  goats.  She  brings  pesti- 
lence, famine,  war  and  sorrows  and  suffering  of  all  kinds, 
and  can  only  be  propitiated  by  the  sacrifice  of  life. 
Formerly  nothing  but  human  blood  would  satisfy  her,  and 
thousands,  some  claim  tens  of  thousands,  of  victims  have 
been  slain  before  her  image  in  that  ancient  temple. 
Human  offerings  were  forbidden  by  the  English  many 
years  ago,  but  it  is  believed  that  they  are  occasionally 
made  even  now  when  famine  and  plague  are  afflicting  the 
people.  During  the  late  famine  it  is  suspected  that  an 
appeal  for  mercy  was  sealed  with  the  sacrifice  of  infants. 
Residents  of  the  neighborhood  assert  that  human  heads, 
dripping  with  blood  and  decorated  with  flowers,  have 
been  seen  in  the  temple  occasionally  since  1870.  It  is  the 
only  notable  temple  in  Calcutta,  and  is  visited  by  tourists, 
but  they  are  allowed  to  go  only  so  far  and  no  farther, 
for  fear  that  Kali  might  be  provoked  by  the  intrusion. 
It  is  a  ghastly,  filthy,  repulsive  place,  and  was  formerly 
the  southern  headquarters  of  that  organized  caste  of  re- 
ligious assassins  known  as  Thugs. 

A  little  beyond  the  Temple  of  Kali  is  the  burning  ghat 
of  Calcutta.  Here  the  Hindus  bring  the  bodies  of  their 
dead  and  burn  them  on  funeral  pyres.  The  cremations 
may  be  witnessed  every  morning  by  anyone  who  cares  to 
take  the  trouble  to  drive  out  there.     They  take  place  in 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    485 

an  open  area  surrounded  by  temples  and  shrines  on  one 
side,  and  large  piles  of  firewood  and  the  palm  cottages  of 
the  attendants  on  the  other.  The  river  which  flows  by 
the  burning  ground  is  covered  with  all  kinds  of  native 
craft,  carrying  on  commerce  between  the  city  and  the 
country,  and  the  ashes  of  the  dead  are  cast  between  them 
upon  the  sacred  waters  from  a  flight  of  stone  steps  which 
leads  to  the  river's  brink.  There  is  no  more  objection  to 
a  stranger  attending  the  burning  ceremonies  than  would 
be  offered  to  his  presence  at  a  funeral  in  the  United 
States.  Indeed,  friends  who  frequently  accompany  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  feel  flattered  at  the  attention  and 
often  take  bunches  of  flowers  from  the  bier  and  present 
them  to  bystanders. 

The  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  of  which  you  have  read 
so  much,  no  longer  exists.  Its  former  site  is  now  par- 
tially built  over,  but  Lord  Curzon  has  had  it  marked,  and 
that  portion  which  is  now  uncovered  he  has  had  paved 
with  marble,  so  that  a  visitor  can  see  just  how  large  an 
area  was  occupied  by  it.  He  has  also  reproduced  after 
the  original  plan  a  monument  that  was  erected  to  the 
dead  by  Governor  J.  Z.  Howell,  one  of  the  sufferers. 
You  will  remember  that  the  employes  of  the  East  India 
Company,  with  their  families,  were  residing  within  the 
walls  of  Fort  William  when  an  uprising  of  the  natives 
occurred  June  20,  1756.  The  survivors,  156  in  number, 
were  made  prisoners  and  pressed  into  an  apartment 
eighteen  feet  long,  eighteen  feet  wide  and  fourteen  feet 
ten  inches  high,  where  they  were  kept  over  night. 
It  was  a  sort  of  vault  in  the  walls  of  the  fortress, 
which  had  been  used  for  storage  purposes  and  at  one 
time  for  a  prison.  The  company  consisted  of  men, 
women,   children   and   even   infants.      Several   of   them 


486  MODERN  INDIA 

were  crushed  to  death  and  trampled  during  the  ef- 
forts of  the  native  soldiers  to  crowd  them  into  this 
place,  and  all  but  thirty-three  of  the  156  died  of 
suffocation.  The  next  morning,  when  the  leader  of  the 
mutiny  ordered  the  living  prisoners  brought  before  him, 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  were  cast  into  a  pit  outside  the 
walls  and  allowed  to  rot  there.  The  monument  to  which 
I  have  alluded  stands  upon  the  site  of  the  pit.  To  pre- 
serve history  Lord  Curzon  has  had  a  model  of  the  old  fort 
made  in  wood,  and  it  will  be  placed  in  the  museum. 

Calcutta  is  a  fine  city.  The  government  buildings,  the 
courthouses,  the  business  blocks  and  residences,  the 
churches  and  clubs  are  nearly  all  of  pretentious  architec- 
ture and  imposing  appearance.  Most  of  the  buildings  are 
up  to  date.  The  banks  of  the  river  are  lined  for  a  long 
distance  with  mammoth  warehouses  and  the  anchorage  is 
crowded  with  steamers  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
There  is  a  regular  line  between  Calcutta  and  New  York, 
which,  I  was  told,  is  doing  a  good  business.  Beyond  the 
warehouses,  the  business  section  and  the  government 
buildings,  along  the  bank  of  the  river  for  several  miles,  is 
an  open  space  or  common,  called  the  Maidan,  the  amuse- 
ment and  recreation  ground  of  the  public,  who  show  their 
appreciation  by  putting  it  to  good  use.  There  are  several 
thousand  acres,  including  the  military  reservation,  bisect- 
ed with  drives  and  ornamented  with  monuments  and 
groves  of  trees.  It  belongs  to  the  public,  is  intended  for 
their  benefit,  and  thousands  of  natives  may  be  found  en- 
joying this  privilege  night  and  day.  An  American  circus 
has  its  tent  pitched  in  the  center  opposite  a  group  of 
hotels  ;  a  little  further  along  is  a  roller  skating  rink,  which 
seems  to  be  popular,  and  scattered  here  and  there,  usually 
beside  clumps  of  shade  trees,  are  cottages  erected  for  the 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    487 

accommodation  of  golf,  tennis,  croquet  and  cricket  clubs. 
On  Saturday  afternoons  and  holidays  these  clubhouses 
are  surrounded  by  gayly  dressed  people  enjoying  an  out- 
ing, and  at  all  times  groups  of  natives  may  be  seen  scat- 
tered from  one  end  of  the  Maidan  to  the  other,  sleeping, 
visiting,  and  usually  resting  in  the  full  glare  of  the  fierce 
sun.  Late  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  heat  has  moderated, 
everybody  who  owns  a  carriage  or  a  horse  or  can  hire 
one,  comes  out  for  a  drive,  and  along  the  river  bank  the 
roadway  is  crowded  with  all  kinds  of  vehicles  filled  with 
all  sorts  of  people  dressed  in  every  variety  of  costume 
worn  by  the  many  races  that  make  up  the  Indian  Empire, 
with  a  large  sprinkling  of  Europeans. 

The  viceroy  and  Lady  Curzon,  with  their  two  little 
girls,  come  in  an  old-fashioned  barouche,  drawn  by  hand- 
some English  hackneys,  with  coachman,  footman  and  two 
postilions,  clad  in  gorgeous  red  livery,  gold  sashes  and 
girdles  and  turbans  of  white  and  red.  Their  carriage  is 
followed  by  a  squad  of  mounted  Sikhs,  bronzed  faced, 
bearded  giants  in  scarlet  uniforms  and  big  turbans,  carry- 
ing long,  old-fashioned  spears.  Lord  Kitchener,  the  hero 
of  Khartoum  and  the  Boer  war,  appears  in  a  landau 
driven  by  the  only  white  coachman  in  Calcutta.  Lord 
Kitchener  is  a  bachelor,  and  his  friends  say  that  he  has 
never  even  thought  of  love,  although  he  is  a  handsome 
man,  of  many  graces,  and  has  contributed  to  the  pleasure 
of  society  in  both  England  and  India.  The  diplomatic 
corps,  as  the  consuls  of  foreign  governments  residing  in 
India  are  called  by  courtesy — for  all  of  India's  relations 
with  other  countries  must  be  conducted  through  the  for- 
eign department  at  London — are  usually  in  evidence,  rid- 
ing in  smart  equipages,  and  they  are  very  hospitable  and 
agreeable  people.     The  United  States  is  represented  by 


488  MODERN  INDIA' 

General  Robert  F.  Patterson,  who  went  to  the  civil  war 
from  Iowa,  but  has  since  been  a  citizen  of  Memphis. 
Mrs.  Patterson,  who  belongs  to  a  distinguished  southern 
family,  is  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  society,  and  is 
famous  for  her  hospitality  and  her  fine  dinners. 

The  native  princes  and  other  rich  Hindus  who  reside  in 
Calcutta  arc  quite  apt  in  imitating  foreign  ways,  but,  for- 
tunately, most  of  them  adhere  to  their  national  costume, 
which  is  much  more  becoming  and  graceful  than  the  awk- 
ward garments  we  wear.  The  women  of  their  families 
are  seldom  seen.  The  men  wear  silks  and  brocades  and 
jewels,  and  bring  out  their  children  to  see  the  world,  but 
always  leave  their  wives  at  home. 

There  are  several  sets  and  castes  in  the  social  life — the 
official  set,  the  military  set,  the  professional  people,  the 
mercantile  set,  and  so  on — and  it  is  not  often  that  the  lines 
that  divide  them  are  broken.  During  the  winter  season 
social  life  is  very  gay.  The  city  is  filled  with  visitors  from 
all  parts  of  India,  and  they  spend  their  money  freely,  hav- 
ing a  good  time.  Official  cares  rest  lightly  upon  the 
members  of  the  government,  with  a  few  exceptions,  in- 
cluding Lord  Curzon,  who  is  always  at  work  and  never 
takes  a  holiday.  Dinners,  balls,  garden  parties,  races, 
polo  games,  teas,  picnics  and  excursions  follow  one  an- 
other so  rapidly  that  those  who  indulge  in  social  pleasures 
have  only  time  enough  to  keep  a  record  of  their  engage- 
ments and  to  dress.  The  presence  of  a  large  military 
force  is  a  great  advantage,  particularly  as  many  of  the  of- 
ficers are  bachelors,  and  it  is  whispered  that  some  of  the 
lovely  girls  who  come  out  from  England  to  spend  a  win- 
ter in  India  hope  to  go  home  to  arrange  for  a  wedding. 
Occasionally  matrimonial  affairs  arc  conducted  with  dis- 
patch.    A  young  woman  who  came  out  on  the  steamer 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    489 

with  us,  heart  whole  and  fancy  free,  with  the  expectation 
of  spending  the  entire  winter  in  India,  started  back  to 
London  with  a  big  engagement  ring  upon  her  finger  with- 
in four  weeks  after  she  landed,  and  several  other  young 
women  were  quite  as  fortunate  during  the  same  winter, 
although  not  so  sudden.  India  is  regarded  as  the  most 
favorable  marriage  market  in  the  world. 

Calcutta  has  frequently  been  called  *'the  city  of  stat- 
ues." I  think  Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  the  poet-vice- 
roy, gave  it  that  title,  and  it  was  well  applied.  Whichever 
way  you  look  on  the  Maidan,  bronze  figures  of  former 
viceroys,  statesmen  and  soldiers  appear.  Queen  Victoria 
sits  in  the  center,  a  perfect  reproduction  in  bronze,  and 
around  her,  with  their  faces  turned  toward  the  govern- 
ment house,  are  several  of  her  ablest  and  most  eminent 
servants.  In  the  center  of  the  Maidan  rises  a  lofty  col- 
umn that  looks  like  a  lighthouse.  Its  awkwardness  is  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  graceful  shafts  which  Hindu 
architects  have  erected  in  various  parts  of  the  empire.  It 
is  dedicated  to  David  Ochterlony,  a  former  citizen  of  Cal- 
cutta and  for  fifty  years  a  soldier,  and  is  a  token  of  ap- 
preciation from  the  people  of  the  empire.  The  latest 
monument  is  a  bronze  statue  of  Lord  Roberts. 

Facing  the  Maidan  for  a  couple  of  miles  is  the  Chow- 
ringhee,  one  of  the  famous  streets  of  the  world,  once  a 
row  of  palatial  residences,  but  now  given  up  almost  en- 
tirely to  hotels,  clubs  and  shops.  Upon  this  street  lived 
Warren  Hastings  in  a  stone  palace,  and  a  little  further 
along,  in  what  is  now  the  Bengal  Club,  was  the  home  of 
Thomas  Babbington  Macaulay  during  his  long  residence 
in  India. 

The  governor  of  the  province  of  Bengal  lives  in  a 
beautiful  mansion  in  the  center  of  a  park  called  "Belve- 


490  MODERN  INDIA 

dcrc,"  just  outside  the  city.  There  are  few  finer  country 
homes  in  England,  and  associated  with  it  are  many  his- 
torical events.  Upon  a  grassy  ^noll  shaded  by  stately 
trees  occurred  the  historic  duel  between  Warren  Hast- 
ings, then  governor  general  of  India,  and  Mr.  Francis, 
president  of  the  council  of  state.  They  quarreled  over  an 
offensive  remark  which  Mr.  Francis  entered  in  the  min- 
utes of  the  council.  Hastings  offered  a  challenge  and 
wounded  his  antagonist,  but  the  ball  was  extracted  and 
the  affair  fortunately  ended  as  a  comedy  rather  than  a 
tragedy. 

There  are  many  fine  shops  in  Calcutta,  for  people 
throughout  all  eastern  India  go  there  to  buy  goods  just 
as  those  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  United  States  go 
to  Chicago,  and  in  the  eastern  states  to  Boston,  Philadel- 
phia or  New  York.  Of  course,  the  Calcutta  shops  are  not 
so  large  and  do  not  carry  such  extensive  stocks  as  some 
dealers  in  our  large  cities,  because  they  are  almost  en- 
tirely dependent  upon  the  foreign  population  for  patron- 
age, and  that  is  comparatively  small.  The  natives  patron- 
ize merchants  of  their  own  race,  and  do  their  buying  in 
the  bazaars,  where  the  same  articles  are  sold  at  prices 
much  lower  than  those  asked  by  the  merchants  in  the  for- 
eign section  of  the  city.  This  is  perfectly  natural,  for  the 
native  dealer  has  comparatively  little  rent  to  pay,  the 
wages  of  his  employes  are  ridicuously  small  and  it  does 
not  cost  him  very  much  to  live.  If  a  foreigner  tries  to 
trade  in  the  native  shops  he  has  to  pay  big  prices.  For- 
eigners who  live  in  Calcutta  usually  send  their  servants 
to  make  purchases,  and,  although  it  is  customary  for  the 
servant  to  take  a  little  commission  or  "squeeze"  from  the 
seller  for  himself,  the  price  is  much  lower  than  would  be 
paid  for  the  same  articles  at  one  of  the  European  shops. 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    491 

Occasionally  you  see  American  goods,  but  not  often. 
We  sell  India  comparatively  little  merchandise  except 
iron  and  steel,  machinery,  agricultural  implements,  sew- 
ing machines,  typewriters,  phonographs  and  other  pat- 
ented articles.  One  afternoon  four  naked  Hindus  went 
staggering  along  the  main  street  in  Calcutta  carrying  an 
organ  made  by  the  Farrand  Company  of  Detroit,  which 
has  considerable  trade  there.  American  pianos  are  widely 
advertised  by  one  of  the  music  dealers.  The  beef  packing 
houses  of  Chicago  send  considerable  tinned  meat  to  India, 
and  it  is  quite  popular  and  useful.  Indeed,  it  would  be 
difficult  for  the  English  to  get  along  without  it,  because 
native  beef  is  very  scarce.  It  is  only  served  at  the  hotels 
one  or  twice  a  week.  That  is  due  to  the  fact  that  cows 
are  sacred  and  oxen  are  so  valuable  for  draught  pur- 
poses. Fresh  beef  comes  all  the  way  from  Australia  in 
refrigerator  ships  and  is  sold  at  the  fancy  markets. 

The  native  bazaars  are  like  those  in  other  Indian  cities, 
although  not  so  interesting.  Calcutta  has  comparatively 
a  small  native  trade,  although  it  has  a  million  of  popula- 
tion. The  shops  of  Delhi,  Lahore,  Jeypore,  Lucknow, 
Benares  and  other  cities  are  much  more  attractive.  In 
the  European  quarter  are  some  curio  dealers,  who  stop 
there  for  the  winter  and  go  to  Delhi  and  Simla  for  the 
summer,  selHng  brocades,  embroideries,  shawls,  wood 
and  ivory  carvings  and  other  native  art  work  which  are 
very  tempting  to  tourists.  Several  dealers  in  jewels  from 
Delhi  and  other  cities  spend  the  holidays  in  order  to 
catch  the  native  princes,  who  are  the  greatest  purchasers 
of  precious  stones  in  the  world.  Several  of  them  have 
collections  more  valuable  and  extensive  than  any  of  the 
imperial  families  of  Europe.  Prices  of  all  curios,  em- 
broideries and  objects  of  art  are  much  higher  in  Calcutta 


492  MODERN  INDIA 

than  in  the  cities  of  northern  India,  and  everybody  told 
us  it  was  the  poorest  place  to  buy  such  things. 

The  most  imposing  building  upon  the  Chowringhee, 
the  principal  street,  is  the  Imperial  iVIuseum,  which  was 
founded  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago  by  the  Asiatic  So- 
ciety, and  was  taken  over  by  the  government  in  1866.  It 
is  a  splendid  structure  around  a  central  quadrangle  300 
feet  square  with  colonnades,  fountains,  plants  and  flow- 
ers. Little  effort  has  been  made  to  obtain  contributions 
from  other  countries,  but  no  other  collection  of  Indian 
antiquities,  ethnology,  archaeology,  mineralogy  and 
other  natural  sciences  can  compare  with  it.  It  is  under 
the  special  patronage  of  the  viceroy,  who  takes  an  active 
interest  in  extending  its  usefulness  and  increasing  its 
treasures,  while  Lady  Curzon  is  the  patroness  of  the 
school  of  design  connected  with  it.  In  this  school  about 
three  hundred  young  men  are  studying  the  industrial  arts. 
Comparatively  little  attention  is  given  to  the  fine  arts. 
There  are  a  few  native  portrait  painters,  and  I  have  seen 
some  clever  water  colors  from  the  brushes  of  natives. 
But  in  the  industrial  arts  they  excel,  and  this  institute  is 
maintained  under  government  patronage  for  the  purpose 
of  training  the  eyes  and  the  hands  of  designers  and  arti- 
sans. In  the  same  group  of  buildings  are  the  geological 
survey  and  other  scientific  bureaus  of  the  government, 
vv^hich  are  quite  as  progressive  and  learned  as  our  own. 
A  little  farther  up  the  famous  street  are  the  headquarters 
of  the  Asiatic  Society,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  enter- 
prising learned  societies  in  the  world,  whose  journals  and 
proceedings  for  the  last  century  are  a  library  in  them- 
selves and  contain  about  all  that  anybody  would  ever 
want  to  know  concerning  the  history,  literature,  an- 
tiquities, resources  and  people  of  India.     Here  also  is  a 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    493 

collection  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  manuscripts  in  San- 
skrit, Persian,  Arabic,  Hindustani  and  other  oriental 
languages. 

There  is  comparatively  little  poverty  in  Calcutta,  con- 
sidering the  enormous  population  and  the  conditions  in 
which  they  live.  There  are,  however,  several  hundred 
thousand  people  who  would  starve  to  death  upon  their 
present  incomes  if  they  lived  in  the  United  States  or  in  any 
of  the  European  countries,  but  there  it  costs  so  little  to 
sustain  life  and  a  penny  goes  so  far  that  what  an  Amer- 
ican working  man  would  call  abject  destitution  is  an 
abundance.  Give  a  Hindu  a  few  farthings  for  food  and 
a  sheet  of  white  cotton  for  clothing  and  he  will  be  com- 
fortable and  contented. 

The  streets  of  Calcutta,  except  in  a  limited  portion  of 
the  native  section  of  the  city,  are  wide,  well  paved, 
watered  and  swept.  There  is  an  electric  tramway  system 
with  about  twenty  miles  of  track,  reaching  the  principal 
suburbs,  railway  stations  and  business  sections,  and 
whether  Moline  (111.)  got  it  from  Calcutta  or  Calcutta 
borrowed  the  idea  from  Moline,  both  cities  use  the  same 
method  of  laying  the  dust.  The  tramway  company  runs 
an  electric  tank  car  up  and  down  its  tracks  several  times  a 
day,  throwing  water  far  enough  to  cover  nearly  the  entire 
street.  Other  streets,  where  there  are  no  tracks,  are 
sprinkled  by  coolies,  who  carry  upon  their  backs  pig  skins 
and  goat  skins  filled  with  water  and  squirt  it  upon  the 
ground  through  one  of  the  legs  with  a  twist  of  the  wrist 
as  ingenious  and  effective  as  the  method  used  by  Chinese 
laundrymen  in  sprinkling  clothes.  No  white  man  can  do 
either.  The  Hindu  sprinkler  is  an  artist  in  his  line,  and 
therefore  to  be  admired,  because  everybody  who  excels  is 
worthy  of  admiration,  no  matter  what  he  is  doing.    The 


494  MODERN  INDIA 

street  sprinklers  belong  to  the  very  lowest  caste ;  the  same 
caste  as  the  garbage  collectors  and  the  coolies  that  mend 
the  roads  and  sweep  the  sidewalks,  but  they  are  stalwart 
fellows,  much  superior  to  the  higher  class  physically,  and 
as  they  wear  very  little  clothing  everybody  can  see  their 
perfect  anatomy  and  shapely  outlines. 

Much  of  the  road  mending  in  India  is  done  by  women. 
They  seem  to  be  assigned  to  all  the  heavy  and  laborious 
jobs.  They  carry  mortar,  and  bricks  and  stone  where 
new  buildings  are  being  erected ;  they  lay  stone  blocks  in 
the  pavements,  hammer  the  concrete  with  heavy  iron 
pestles,  and  you  can  frequently  see  them  walking  along 
the  wayside  with  loads  of  lumber  or  timber  carefully 
balanced  on  their  heads  that  would  be  heavy  for  a  mule 
or  an  ox.  Frequently  they  carry  babies  at  the  same 
time ;  never  in  their  arms,  but  swung  over  their  backs  or 
astride  their  hips.  The  infant  population  of  India  spend 
the  first  two  or  three  years  of  their  lives  astride  some- 
body's hips.  It  may  be  their  mother's,  or  their  sister's, 
or  their  brother's,  but  they  are  always  carried  that  way, 
and  abound  so  plentifully  that  there  is  no  danger  of  race 
suicide  in  that  empire. 

Next  to  the  Sikh  soldier,  the  nattiest  native  in  India  is 
the  postman,  who  is  dressed  in  a  blue  uniform  with  a  blue 
turban  of  cotton  or  silk  cloth  to  match,  and  wears  a  nickel 
number  over  his  forehead  with  the  insignia  of  the  postal 
service,  and  a  girdle  with  a  highly  ornamental  buckle. 
The  deliveries  and  collections  are  much  more  frequent 
than  with  us.  It  is  a  mortification  to  every  American  who 
travels  abroad  to  see  the  superiority  of  the  postal  service 
in  other  countries.  That  is  about  the  only  feature  of  civil 
administration  in  which  the  federal  government  of  the 
United  States  is  inferior,  but,  compared  with  India,  as 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    495 

well  as  the  European  countries,  our  Postoffice  Depart- 
ment is  not  up  to  date.  You  can  mail  a  letter  to  any  part 
of  Calcutta  in  the  morning  and,  if  your  correspondent 
takes  the  trouble,  he  can  reach  you  with  a  reply  before 
dinner.  The  rates  of  postage  on  local  matter  and  on  par- 
cels are  much  lower  than  with  us.  I  can  send  a  package 
of  books  or  merchandise  or  anything  else  weighing  less 
than  four  pounds  from  Calcutta  to  Chicago  for  less  than 
half  the  charge  that  would  be  required  on  a  similar  pack- 
age from  Evanston  or  Oak  Park. 

The  best  time  for  a  stranger  to  visit  Calcutta  is  during 
holiday  week,  for  then  the  social  season  is  inaugurated  by 
a  levee  given  by  the  viceroy,  a  "drawing-room"  by  the 
vice-queen  and  a  grand  state  ball.  The  annual  races  are 
held  that  week,  also,  including  the  great  sporting  event  of 
the  year,  which  is  a  contest  for  a  cup  offered  by  the  vice- 
roy, and  a  military  parade  and  review  and  various  other 
ceremonies  and  festivities  attract  people  from  every  part 
of  the  empire.  The  native  princes  naturally  take  this  op- 
portunity to  visit  the  capital  and  pay  their  respects  to  the 
representative  of  imperial  power,  while  every  English- 
man in  the  civil  and  military  service,  and  those  of  social 
or  sporting  proclivities  in  private  life  have  their  vaca- 
tions at  that  time  and  spend  the  Christmas  and  New 
Year's  holidays  with  Calcutta  friends.  Moreover,  the 
fact  that  all  these  people  will  be  there  attracts  the  tour- 
ists who  happen  to  be  in  India  at  the  time,  for  it  gives 
them  a  chance  to  see  the  most  notable  and  brilliant  social 
features  of  Indian  life.  Hence  we  rushed  across  the  em- 
pire with  everybody  else  and  assisted  to  increase  the 
crowd  and  the  enthusiasm.  Every  hotel,  boarding-house 
and  club  was  crowded.  Every  family  had  guests.  Cots 
and  beds  were  placed  in  offices  and  wherever  else  they 


496  MODERN  INDIA 

could  be  accommodated.  Tents  were  spread  on  the  lawn 
of  the  Government  House  for  the  benefit  of  government 
officials  coming  in  from  the  provinces,  and  on  the  parade 
grounds  at  the  fort  for  military  visitors.  The  grounds 
surrounding  the  club  houses  looked  like  military  camps. 
Sixteen  tents  were  placed  upon  the  roof  of  the  hotel 
where  we  were  stopping  to  accommodate  the  overflow. 

Good  hotels  are  needed  everywhere  in  India,  as  I  have 
several  times  suggested,  and  nowhere  so  much  as  in  Cal- 
cutta. The  government,  the  people  and  all  concerned 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  their  lack  of  enterprise  in  this 
direction,  and  everybody  admits  it  without  argument. 
There  is  not  a  comfortable  hotel  in  the  city,  and  while  it 
is  of  course  possible  for  people  to  survive  present  condi- 
tions they  are  nevertheless  a  national  disgrace.  Calcutta 
is  a  city  of  more  than  a  million  inhabitants.  Among  its 
residents  are  many  millionaires  and  other  wealthy  men. 
It  is  frequently  called  "the  city  of  palaces,"  and  many  of 
the  private  residences  in  the  foreign  quarter  are  imposing 
and  costly.  Hence  there  is  no  excuse  but  indifference 
and  lack  of  public  spirit. 

The  Government  House,  which  is  the  residence  of  the 
viceroy,  is  one  of  the  finest  palaces  in  the  world,  and  in 
architectural  beauty,  extent  and  arrangement  surpasses 
many  of  the  royal  residences  of  Europe.  None  of  the 
many  palaces  in  England  and  the  other  European  capitals 
is  better  adapted  for  entertaining  or  has  more  stately 
audience  chambers,  reception  rooms,  banquet  halls  and 
ballrooms.  It  is  truly  an  imperial  residence  and  was 
erected  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  by  Lord  Welles- 
ley,  who  had  an  exalted  appreciation  of  the  position  he 
occupied,  and  transplanted  to  India  the  ceremonies,  for- 
malities and  etiquette  of  the  British  court.     The  Gov- 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    497 

ernment  House  stands  in  the  center  of  a  beautiful  garden 
of  seven  acres  and  is  now  completely  surrounded  and 
almost  hidden  by  groups  of  noble  trees  so  that  it  cannot 
be  photographed.  It  is  an  enlarged  copy  of  Kedlestone 
Hall,  Derbyshire,  and  consists  of  a  central  group  of  state 
apartments  crowned  with  a  dome  and  connected  with 
four  wings  by  long  galleries. 

The  throne-room  is  a  splendid  apartment  and  the  seat 
of  the  mighty  is  the  ancient  throne  of  Tipu,  one  of  the 
southern  maharajas,  who,  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  gave  the  British  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  until  he  was  deprived  of  power.  The  banquet 
hall,  the  council  chamber,  the  ballrooms  and  a  series  of 
drawing  rooms,  nearly  all  of  the  same  size,  are  decorated 
in  white  and  gold,  and  each  is  larger  than  the  east  room 
in  the  White  House  at  Washington.  The  ceilings  are 
supported  by  rows  of  marble  columns  with  gilded  cap- 
itals, and  are  frescoed  by  famous  artists.  The  floors  are 
of  polished  teak  wood ;  the  walls  are  paneled  with  brocade 
and  tapestries,  and  are  hung  with  historical  pictures,  in- 
cluding full  length  portraits  of  the  kings  and  queens  of 
England,  all  the  viceroys  from  the  time  of  Warren 
Hastings,  and  many  of  the  most  famous  native  rulers  of 
India.  In  one  of  the  rooms  is  a  collection  of  marble  busts 
of  the  Caesars.  These,  with  a  portrait  of  Louis  XV.  and 
several  elaborate  crystal  chandeliers,  were  loot  of  the  war 
of  1798,  when  they  were  captured  from  a  ship  which  was 
carrying  them  as  a  present  from  the  Emperor  of  France 
to  the  Nyzam  of  Hyderabad. 

The  palace  cost  $750,000  and  the  furniture  $250,000, 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  at  a  time  when  money 
would  go  three  times  as  far  as  it  does  to-day.  Lord 
Wellesley  had  lofty  ideas,  and  when  the  merchants  of  the 


498  MODERN  INDIA 

East  India  Company  expressed  their  disapproval  of  this 
expenditure  he  told  them  that  India  "should  be  governed 
from  a  palace  and  not  from  a  counting-house,  with  the 
ideas  of  a  prince  and  not  those  of  a  retail  dealer  in  muslin 
and  indigo." 

Great  stories  are  told  of  the  receptions,  levees  and 
balls  that  were  given  in  the  days  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, but  they  could  not  have  been  more  brilliant  than 
those  of  to-day.  The  Government  House  has  never  been 
occupied  by  a  viceroy  more  capable  of  assuming  the  dig- 
nities and  performing  the  duties  of  that  office  than  Lord 
Curzon,  and  no  more  beautiful,  graceful  or  popular 
woman  ever  sat  upon  the  vice-queen's  throne  than  Mary 
Leiter  Curzon.  No  period  in  Indian  history  has  ever 
been  more  brilliant,  more  progressive  or  more  prosperous 
than  the  present ;  no  administration  of  the  government 
has  even  given  wider  satisfaction  from  any  point  of  view, 
and  certainly  the  social  functions  presided  over  by  Lord 
and  Lady  Curzon  were  never  surpassed.  They  live  in 
truly  royal  style,  surrounded  by  the  ceremonies  and  the 
pomp  that  pertain  to  kings,  which  is  a  part  of  the  ad- 
ministrative policy,  because  the  300,000,000  people  sub- 
ject to  the  viceroy's  authority  are  very  impressionable, 
and  measure  power  and  sometimes  justice  and  right  by 
appearances.  Lord  and  Lady  Curzon  never  leave  the 
palace  without  an  escort  of  giant  warriors  from  the  Sikh 
tribe,  who  wear  dazzling  uniforms  of  red,  turbans  as  big 
as  bushel  baskets,  and  sit  on  their  horses  like  centaurs. 
They  carry  long  spears  and  are  otherwise  armed  with 
native  weapons.  Within  the  palace  the  same  formality  is 
preserved,  except  in  the  private  apartments  of  the  vice- 
roy, where  for  certain  hours  of  every  day  the  doors  are 
closed  against  official  cares  and  responsibilities,  and  Lord 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    499 

and  Lady  Curzon  can  spend  a  few  hours  with  their  chil- 
dren, like  ordinary  people. 

The  palace  is  managed  by  a  comptroller  general,  who 
has  150  servants  under  him,  and  a  stable  of  forty  horses, 
and  relieves  Lady  Curzon  from  the  cares  of  the  house- 
hold. Lord  Curzon  is  attended  by  a  staff  of  ministers, 
secretaries  and  aids,  like  a  king,  and  Lady  Curzon  has 
her  ladies-in-waiting,  secretaries  and  aids,  like  a  queen. 

People  who  wish  to  be  received  at  Government  House 
will  find  three  books  open  before  them  in  the  outer  hall, 
in  which  they  are  expected  to  inscribe  their  names,  in- 
stead of  leaving  cards.  One  of  these  books  is  for  per- 
manent residents  of  Calcutta,  another  for  officials,  and  an- 
other for  transient  visitors,  who  record  their  names,  their 
home  addresses,  their  occupations,  the  time  they  expect  to 
stay  in  Calcutta,  and  the  place  at  which  they  may  be 
stopping.  From  these  books  the  invitation  lists  are  made 
out  by  the  proper  officials,  but  in  order  to  secure  an  invi- 
tation to  Lady  Curzon's  "drawing-room"  a  stranger 
must  be  presented  by  some  person  of  importance  who  is 
well  known  at  court.  At  9  o'clock  those  who  have  been 
so  fortunate  as  to  be  invited  are  expected  to  arrive.  They 
leave  their  wraps  in  cloakrooms  in  the  basement,  where 
the  ladies  are  separated  from  the  gentlemen  who  escort 
them,  because  the  latter  are  not  formally  presented  to  the 
vice-queen,  but  they  meet  again  an  hour  or  so  later  in 
the  banquet  hall  after  the  ceremony  is  over. 

The  ladies  pass  up  two  flights  of  stairs  into  waiting- 
rooms  in  the  third  story  of  the  palace,  pursuing  a  rather 
circuitous  course  over  about  half  the  building,  guided  by 
velvet  barriers  and  railings,  and  at  each  corner  stands 
an  aide-de-camp  or  a  gentleman-in-waiting,  to  answer  in- 
quiries   and   give   directions   to    strangers.      When   the 


500  MODERN  INDIA 

anteroom  is  at  last  reached,  the  ladies  await  their  turns, 
being  admitted  to  the  audience  chamber  in  groups  of 
four.  They  are  given  a  moment  or  two  to  adjust  their 
plumage,  and  then  pass  slowly  toward  the  throne,  upon 
which  Lady  Curzon  is  seated.  The  viceroy,  in  the  Uni- 
form and  regalia  of  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  stands  under 
the  canopy  by  her  side.  There  is  no  crowding  and  push- 
ing, such  as  we  see  at  presidential  receptions  at  Washing- 
ton and  often  at  royal  functions  in  Europe,  but  there  is 
an  interval  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  between  the 
guests.  After  entering  the  room  each  lady  hands  a  card 
upon  which  her  name  is  written  to  the  gentleman-in-wait- 
ing, and,  as  she  approaches  the  throne  he  pronounces  it 
slowly  and  distinctly.  She  makes  her  courtesies  to  the 
viceroy  and  his  lady,  and  then  passes  on.  There  is  no 
confusion,  no  haste,  no  infringement  of  dignity,  and  each 
woman  for  the  moment  has  the  entire  stage  to  herself. 

On  either  side  of  the  throne  are  gathered,  standing, 
many  native  princes,  the  higher  officers  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  army,  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps 
and  other  favored  persons,  with  their  wives  and  daugh- 
ters, and  their  costumes  furnish  a  brilliant  background  to 
the  scene.  The  rest  of  the  great  audience  chamber,  blaz- 
ing with  electric  lights,  is  entirely  empty.  The  viceroy 
greets  every  lady  with  a  graceful  bow,  and  Lady  Curzon 
gives  her  a  smile  of  welcome.  The  government  band  is 
playing  all  this  time  in  an  adjoining  room,  so  that  the 
music  can  be  only  faintly  heard,  and  does  not  interfere 
with  the  ceremony,  as  is  so  often  the  case  elsewhere. 

Having  passed  in  review,  the  guests  return  to  the  other 
part  of  the  palace  by  a  different  course  than  that  through 
which  they  came,  and  find  their  escorts  awaiting  them  in 
the  banquet  hall.    When  the  last  lady  has  been  presented. 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    501 

the  viceroy  and  Lady  Curzon  lead  the  way  to  the  banquet 
hall,  where  a  sumptuous  supper  is  spread,  and  the  gen- 
tlemen are  allowed  to  share  the  festivities.  The  formal- 
ities are  relaxed,  and  the  hosts  chat  informally  with  the 
guests. 

It  is  a  very  brilliant  scene,  quite  different  from  any 
that  may  be  witnessed  elsewhere,  particularly  because  of 
the  gorgeous  costumes  and  the  profusion  of  jewels  worn 
by  the  native  princes.  At  none  of  the  capitals  of  Europe 
can  so  magnificent  a  show  of  jewels  be  witnessed,  but  the 
medals  of  honor  and  decorations  which  adorn  the  breasts 
of  the  bronzed  soldiers  are  more  highly  prized  and  usual- 
ly excite  greater  admiration,  for  many  of  the  heroes  of 
the  South  African  war  were  serving  tours  of  duty  in 
India  when  we  were  in  Calcutta. 

The  viceroy's  levee  is  exclusively  for  gentlemen.  No 
ladies  are  expected,  and  a  similar  ceremony  is  carried 
out.  It  is  intended  to  ofifer  an  annual  opportunity  for  the 
native  princes,  and  officials  of  the  government,  officers  of 
the  army,  the  Indian  nobility  and  private  citizens  of 
prominence  to  pay  their  respects  and  offer  their  congrat- 
ulations to  their  ruler  and  the  representative  of  their  king, 
and  at  9  o'clock  on  the  evening  appointed,  two  days  later 
than  Lady  Curzon's  reception,  every  man  of  distinction 
in  that  part  of  the  world  appears  at  the  palace  and  makes 
his  bow  to  the  viceroy  as  the  latter  stands  under  the 
canopy  beside  the  throne.  It  might  be  a  somber  and 
stupid  proceeding  but  for  the  presence  of  many  natives 
in  their  dazzling  jewels,  picturesque  turbans  and  golden 
brocades,  and  the  large  contingent  of  army  officers,  with 
their  breasts  covered  with  medals  and  decorations. 

This  reception  is  followed  a  few  days  later  by  a  state 
ball,  which  is  considered  the  most  brilliant  function  of 


502  MODERN  INDIA 

the  year  in  India.  Invitations  are  limited  to  persons  of 
certain  rank  who  have  been  formally  presented  at  Gov- 
ernment House,  but  Lady  Curzon  is  always  on  the  look- 
out for  her  fellow  countrymen,  and  if  she  learns  of  their 
presence  in  Calcutta  invitations  are  sure  to  reach  them 
one  way  or  another.  She  is  a  woman  of  many  responsi- 
bilities, and  her  time  and  mind  are  always  occupied,  but 
few  Americans  ever  visit  Calcutta  without  having  some 
delightful  evidence  of  her  loyalty  and  thoughtfulness. 

There  were  many  other  festivities  for  celebrating  the 
New  Year.  All  the  English  and  native  troops  in  the 
vicinity  of  Calcutta  passed  in  review  before  the  viceroy 
and  Lord  Kitchener,  who  is  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  forces  in  India. 

In  one  of  the  parks  in  the  city  was  a  native  fair  and 
display  of  art  industries,  and  at  the  zoological  gardens  the 
various  societies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  Cal- 
cutta held  a  bazaar  and  raffled  off  many  valuable  and 
worthless  articles,  sold  barrels  of  tea  and  tons  of  cake, 
and  sweetmeats  to  enormous  crowds  of  natives,  who  at- 
tended in  their  holiday  attire.  There  was  a  pyramid  of 
gold  coins  amounting  to  a  thousand  dollars,  an  auto- 
mobile, a  silver  service  valued  at  $i,ooo,  a  grand  piano,  a 
carriage  and  span  of  ponies,  and  various  other  prizes 
offered  in  the  lotteries,  together  with  dolls  and  ginger- 
cake,  pipes  and  cigar  cases,  slippers,  neckties,  pincushions 
and  other  offerings  to  the  god  of  chance.  Fashionable 
society  was  attracted  to  the  fair  grounds  by  a  horse  and 
dog  show,  and  various  other  functions  absorbed  public  at- 
tention. 

The  great  sporting  event  of  the  year  in  India  is  a  race 
for  a  big  silver  cup  presented  by  the  viceroy  and  a  purse 
of  20,000  rupees  to  the  winner.     We  took  an  interest  in 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    503 

the  race  because  Mr.  Apgar,  an  Armenian  opium  mer- 
chant, who  nominated  Great  Scott,  an  Austrian  thorough- 
bred, has  a  breeding  farm  and  stable  of  200  horses,  and 
everything  about  his  place  comes  from  the  United  States. 
He  uses  nothing  but  American  harness  and  other  ac- 
coutrements, and  as  a  natural  and  unavoidable  conse- 
quence Great  Scott  won  the  cup  and  the  purse  very  easily, 
and  his  fleetness  was  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  shod  with  American  shoes.  The  programme  showed 
that  about  half  the  entries  were  by  natives.  His  Royal 
Highness  Aga  Khan,  the  Nawab  of  Samillolahs ;  Aga 
Shah ;  our  old  friend  of  the  Chicago  exposition,  the  Sul- 
tan of  Johore,  and  His  Highness  Kour  Sahib  of  Patiala, 
all  had  horses  in  the  big  race.  Some  of  these  princes 
have  breeding  stables.  Others  import  English,  Irish, 
Australian,  American  and  Arabian  thoroughbreds.  There 
was  no  American  horse  entered  for  the  viceroy's  cup  this 
year,  but  Kentucky  running  stock  is  usually  represented. 
There  are  two  race  tracks  at  Calcutta,  one  for  regular 
running,  the  other  for  steeple  chasing,  and,  as  in  England 
and  Ireland,  the  horses  run  on  the  turf,  and  most  of  the 
riders  are  gentlemen.  A  few  professional  jockeys  repre- 
sent the  stables  of  breeders  who  are  too  old  or  too  fat  or 
too  lazy  to  ride  themselves,  but  it  is  considered  the  proper 
thing  for  every  true  sportsman  to  ride  his  own  horse  as 
long  as  he  is  under  weight.  The  tracks  are  surrounded 
by  lovely  landscapes,  an  easy  driving  distance  from  Cal- 
cutta, and  everybody  in  town  was  there.  The  grand 
stand  and  the  terraces  that  surround  it  were  crowded 
with  beautifully  dressed  women,  many  of  them  Parsees, 
in  their  lovely  costumes,  and  within  the  course  were 
more  than  50,000  natives,  wearing  every  conceivable 
color,  red  and  yellow  predominating,  so  that  when  one 


504  MODERN  INDIA 

looked  down  upon  the  inclosurc  from  a  distance  it  resem- 
bled a  vast  flower  bed,  a  field  of  poppies  and  roses.  The 
natives  take  great  interest  in  the  races,  and,  as  they  are 
admitted  free,  every  man,  woman  and  child  who  could 
leave  home  was  there,  and  the  most  of  them  walked  the 
entire  distance  from  the  city. 

The  viceroy  and  vice-queen  appear  in  the  official  old- 
fashioned  barouche,  drawn  by  four  horses,  with  out- 
riders, and  escorted  by  a  bodyguard  of  Sikhs  in  brilliant 
scarlet  uniforms  and  big  turbans  of  navy  blue,  with  gold 
trimmings.  The  viceroy's  box  is  lined  and  carpeted  with 
scarlet,  and  easy  chairs  were  placed  for  his  comfort. 
Distinguished  people  came  up  to  pay  their  respects  to  him 
and  Lady  Curzon,  and  between  visits  he  wandered  about 
the  field,  shaking  hands  with  acquaintances  in  a  demo- 
cratic fashion  and  smiling  as  if  he  were  having  the  time 
of  his  life.  It  is  not  often  that  the  present  viceroy  takes 
a  holiday.  He  is  the  most  industrious  man  in  India,  and 
very  few  of  his  subjects  work  as  hard  as  he,  but  he  takes 
his  recreation  in  the  same  fashion.  He  is  always  full  of 
enthusiasm,  and  never  does  anything  in  a  half-hearted 
way.  Lord  Kitchener  came  also,  but  was  compelled  to 
remain  in  his  carriage  because  of  his  broken  leg.  The 
police  found  him  a  good  place  and  he  enjoyed  it. 

On  the  lawn  behind  the  grand  stand,  under  the  shade 
of  groups  of  palm  trees,  tables  and  chairs  were  placed, 
and  tea  was  served  between  the  events.  Ladies  whose 
husbands  are  members  of  the  Jockey  Club  can  engage 
tables  in  advance,  as  most  of  them  do,  and  issue  their  in- 
vitations in  advance  also,  so  that  Viceroy's  day  is  usually 
a  continuous  tea  party  and  a  reunion  of  old  friends,  for 
everybody  within  traveling  distance  comes  to  the  capital 
that  day.     Every  woman  wore  a  new  gown  made  ex- 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    505 

pressly  for  the  occasion.  Most  of  them  were  of  white  or 
of  dainty  colors,  but  they  did  not  compare  in  beauty  or 
elegance  with  the  brocades  and  embroidered  silks  worn 
by  bare-legged  natives.  Half  the  Hindu  gentlemen  pres- 
ent had  priceless  camel's  hair  and  Cashmere  shawls 
thrown  over  their  shoulders — most  of  them  heirlooms, 
for,  according  to  the  popular  impression,  modern  shawls 
do  not  compare  in  quality  with  the  old  ones.  Under  the 
shawls  they  wear  long  coats,  reaching  to  their  heels  like 
ulsters,  of  lovely  figured  silk  or  brocade  of  brilliant  col- 
ors. Some  of  them  are  finished  with  exquisite  embroid- 
ery. No  Hindu  women  were  present,  only  Parsees.  They 
never  appear  in  public,  and  allow  their  husbands  to  wear 
all  of  the  fine  fabrics  and  jewels.  With  shawls  wrapped 
around  them  like  Roman  togas,  the  Hindus  are  the  most 
dignified  and  stately  human  spectacles  you  can  imagine, 
but  when  they  put  on  European  garments  or  a  mixture 
of  native  and  foreign  dress  they  are  positively  ridiculous, 
and  do  violence  to  every  rule  of  art  and  law  of  taste. 
Usually  when  an  oriental — for  it  is  equally  true  of  China, 
Japan  and  Turkey — adopts  European  dress  he  selects  the 
same  colors  he  would  wear  in  his  own,  and  he  looks  like  a 
freak,  as  you  can  imagine,  in  a  pair  of  green  trousers,  a 
crimson  waistcoat,  a  purple  tie,  a  blue  negligee  shirt  and 
a  plaid  jacket. 

If  you  want  to  see  a  display  of  fine  raiment  and 
precious  stones  you  must  attend  an  official  function  in 
India,  a  reception  by  Lord  or  Lady  Curzon,  for  in  the 
number,  size  and  value  of  their  jewels  the  Indian  princes 
surpass  the  sovereigns  of  Europe.  One  of  the  rajahs  has 
the  finest  collection  of  rubies  in  the  world,  purchased 
from  time  to  time  by  his  ancestors  for  several  genera- 
tions, most  of  them  in  Burma,  where  the  most  valuable 


5o6  MODERN  INDIA 

rubies  have  been  found.  Another  has  a  collection  of 
pearls,  accumulated  in  the  same  way.  They  represent  an 
investment  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  include  the  largest 
and  finest  examples  in  the  world.  When  he  wears  them 
all,  as  he  sometimes  does,  on  great  occasions,  his  front 
from  his  neck  to  his  waist  is  covered  with  pearls  netted 
like  a  chain  armor.  His  turban  is  a  cataract  of  pearls  on 
all  sides,  and  upon  his  left  shoulder  is  a  knot  as  large  as 
your  two  hands,  from  which  depends  a  braided  rope  of 
four  strands,  reaching  to  his  knee,  and  every  pearl  is  as 
large  as  a  grape.  You  can  appreciate  the  size  and  value 
of  his  collection  when  I  tell  you  that  all  of  the  pearls 
owned  by  the  ex-Empress  Eugenie  are  worn  in  his  tur- 
ban, and  do  not  represent  ten  per  cent  of  the  collection. 
Other  rajahs  are  famous  for  diamonds,  or  emeralds,  or 
other  jewels.  There  seems  to  be  a  good  deal  of  rivalry 
among  them  as  to  which  shall  make  the  greatest  display. 
But  from  what  people  tell  me  I  should  say  that  the  Nizam 
of  Haidarabad  could  furnish  the  largest  stock  if  these 
estimable  gentlemen  were  ever  compelled  to  go  into  the 
jewelry  business.  We  were  particularly  interested  in  him 
because  he  outranks  all  the  other  native  princes,  and  is 
the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  gorgeous  in  the 
array.  His  dominions,  which  he  has  inherited  from  a 
long  line  of  ancestors — I  believe  he  traces  his  ancestry 
back  to  the  gods — include  the  ancient  City  of  Golconda, 
whose  name  for  centuries  was  a  synonym  for  riches  and 
splendors.  In  ancient  times  it  was  the  greatest  diamond 
market  in  the  world.  It  was  the  capital  of  the  large  and 
powerful  kingdom  of  the  Deccan,  and  embraced  all  of 
southern  India,  but  is  now  in  ruins.  Its  grandeur  began 
to  decay  when  the  kingdom  was  conquered  by  the  Moguls 
in   1587  and  annexed  to  their  empire,  and  to-day  the 


CALCUTTA,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  INDIA    507 

crumbling  walls  and  abandoned  palaces  are  almost  en- 
tirely deserted.  Even  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  kings,  a 
row  of  vast  and  splendid  mausoleums,  which  cost  millions 
upon  millions  of  dollars,  and  for  architecture  and  decora- 
tion and  costliness  have  been  surpassed  only  by  those  of 
the  Moguls,  are  being  allowed  to  decay  while  the  ruling 
descendant  of  the  men  who  sleep  there  spends  his  income 
for  diamonds. 

The  magnificence  and  extravagance  of  these  princes  are 
the  theme  of  poems  and  legends.  There  is  a  large  book 
in  Persian  filled  with  elaborate  and  graphic  descriptions 
of  the  functions  and  ceremonies  that  attend  the  reception 
of  an  envoy  from  Shah  Abbas,  King  of  Persia,  who  vis- 
ited the  court  of  Golconda  in  1503.  Among  other  gifts 
brought  by  him  from  his  royal  master  was  a  crown  of 
rubies  which  still  remains  in  the  family,  although  many 
people  think  the  original  stones  have  been  removed  and 
imitations  substituted  in  order  that  the  nizam  may  enjoy 
the  glory  of  wearing  them.  When  his  ambassador  went 
back  to  Persia  he  was  accompanied  by  a  large  military 
escort  guarding  a  caravan  of  2,400  camels  laden  with 
gifts  from  the  nizam  to  his  royal  master. 

The  present  capital  of  the  province,  the  city  of  Haid- 
arabad,  was  founded  in  1589  by  a  gentleman  named 
Kutab  Shah  Mohammed  Kuli,  who  afterward  removed 
his  household  there  on  account  of  a  lack  of  water  and  a 
malarial  atmosphere  at  Golconda.  He  called  the  city  in 
honor  of  his  favorite  concubine.  The  name  means  "the 
city  of  Haidar."  The  province  includes  about  80,000 
square  miles  of  territory,  and  has  a  population  of  11,- 
141,946,  of  whom  only  10  per  cent  are  Moslems,  although 
the  ruling  family  have  always  professed  that  faith. 

The  present  nizam  is  Mir  Mahbub  Ali,  who  was  born 


5o8  MODERN  INDIA 

in  1866,  was  partially  educated  in  England  and  is  very 
popular  with  all  classes  of  people — particularly  with 
those  who  profit  by  his  extravagance.  The  revenues  of 
the  state  arc  about  $20,000,000  a  year,  and  the  people  are 
very  much  overtaxed.  The  nizani's  taste  for  splendor 
and  his  desire  to  outdo  all  the  other  native  princes  in  dis- 
play have  caused  the  government  of  India  considerable 
anxiety,  and  the  British  resident  at  his  capital,  whose 
duty  is  to  keep  him  straight,  enjoys  no  sinecure. 

Haidarabad  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  in  India,  with  a 
population  of  355,000,  inclosed  by  a  strong  wall  six  miles 
in  circumference.  The  city  stands  in  the  midst  of  wild 
and  rocky  scenery  and  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
places  in  India,  because  the  nizam  is  fond  of  motion  and 
music  and  color,  and  has  surrounded  himself  with  a  large 
retinue  of  congenial  spirits,  who  live  at  his  expense  and 
pay  their  board  by  amusing  him.  As  the  most  important 
Moslem  potentate  except  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  he  has 
attracted  to  his  service  Mohammedans  from  every  part 
of  the  earth,  who  go  about  wearing  their  distinctive  na- 
tional costumes  and  armed  with  quaint  weapons — Turks, 
Arabs,  Moors,  Afghans,  Persians,  Rajputs,  Sikhs,  Mar- 
athas,  Pathans  and  representatives  of  all  the  other  races 
that  confess  Islam.  His  palaces  are  enormous  and  are 
filled  with  these  retainers,  said  to  number  7,000  of  all 
ranks  and  races,  and  the  courtyards  are  full  of  elephants, 
camels,  horses,  mounted  escorts  and  liveried  servants.  It 
reminds  one  of  the  ancient  East,  a  gorgeous  page  out  of 
the  Arabian  Nights. 


INDEX 


Abu,  Mount  195 
Afghanistan  340 
Afridis,  the  tribe  of  2)2)7 
Agra,  fortress  of  217 

religious    celebration    at 

"5 
Agriculture  65,  314 
Ahmedabad,  city  of  156 
Ajmere,  city  of  198 
Akbar  the  Great  218,  242 

tomb  of  229 
Allahabad,  city  of  397 
Aligarh,  city  of  372 
Amber,  city  of  184 
Ameer  of  Afghanistan  340 
Americans  in  India  42 
American  trade  in  India  491 
Amritsar,  city  of  300 
Architecture,  Mogul  217 

Ahmedabad  162 
of  India  242 
Area  of  India  62 
Art  schools  402,  492 
Army,  the  35 1 

Banyan  trees  475 
Baluchistan  346 
Banks  of  India  75 
Barbers  441 
Barbar,  the  Emperor 
Baroda,  state  of  83 
Bazaars,  native  491 


Bazaars  of  Delhi  252 

Bearers,  Indian  47 

Benares,  city  of  428 

Betel  chewing  68 

Bibles  in  India  63,  459 

Bird  training  192 

Birth  rate  71 

Black  Hole  of  Calcutta  485 

Body  guard.  Lord  Curzon's  135 

Bombay,  death  rate  in  106 
city  of  27 
residences  of  27 
ghat-burning  at  104 
Improvement  Trust 

39 
Monkey  temple  at  104 
old  city  of  38 
public  buildings  of  28 
railway  station  at  30 
statues  in  32 
street-cars  of  41 
University  of  30 

Bordeaux,  Austin  de  263 

Botanical  Gardens  474 

Brahmins,  the  385,  407 

Brahminism  106,  431 

Brahmin  priests  431 

Buddhism  109,  449 

Burning  bodies  104,  447 

Cadet  corps  125 
Calcutta,  city  of  483 


509 


5"^ 


INDEX 


Calcutta,  residences  of  489 
Black  Hole  of  485 

Canteen,  the  army  357 

Caravans  306,  338 

Cashmere,  province  of  307 
shawls  225 

Caste   174,  382 

Castle  in  Bombay  19 

Catholic  missions,  Roman  60 

Cave  temples  54 

Cawnpore,  city  of  373,  379 

Census  of  India  65 

Christian  population  460 

Cities  of  India  65 

Civil  service,  Indian  140 

Coal  mining  80 

Coffee  planting  473 

College,  the  INIoslem  372 
at  Jeypore  178 

Colleges  133,  200,  398 
the  Phipps  324 

Contortionists  283 

Costumes,  Hindu  23,  505 

Cotton  trade  467 

Council  of  India  122 

Courts  140 

Crime  288,  290,  291 

Criminals,  professional  288 

Crops  78 

value  of  331 

Curzon,  Lord  121,  128,  264,  399, 
424,  498 
Lady  257,  498 

Customs,  religious  438 

social  35,  499,  349 

Customs-house  at  Bombay  21 

Cutch-Behar,  Maharaja  of  409 

Dak  bungalows  366 


Darjeeling,  city  of  413 
Dead,  burning  the  447 
Death  rate  70 

at  Bombay  106 
Deccan,  the  64 
Delhi,  city  of  211,  250 

palaces  of  260 

ancient  268 

tombs  of  273 
Docks  at  Bombay  20,  22 
Drawing  room.  Lady  Curzon's 

499 
Durbar,  the  264 

East  India  Company  120 
Education  397,  462 
Elephanta  Island  54 
Elephant  riding  182 
Elephants  working  380 
Ellora,  cave  temples  at  56 
Embroideries,  Indian  254 
Emigration  71 
Epidemics  77 
Etiquette  in  Calcutta  499 

Fakirs,  Hindu  2'/7 
Famines  69,  312 
Farming  78,  314 
Fattehpur-Sikri,  city  of  242 
Frontier  Question  336 
Funeral  customs  loi 

Ganges  River  369,  430 

Gaya,  town  of  450 

Ghats,  burning  104 

Girls,    English    and    American 

12 
Goa,  colony  of  60 
Gods,  Hindu  451 


INDEX 


511 


Government  house  at  Calcutta 
496 
of  India  120 
Governor  of  Bombay  33 
Guilds,  Indian  161 
Gurkas,  the  423 

Haiderabad,  Nizam  of  506 
Hall  of  the  Winds,  Jeypore  175 
Himalayas,  the  413 
Hodson,  Colonel  214 
Holiday  week  in  Calcutta  495 
Hotels  of  India  48,  496 

of  Delhi  251 

in  Muttra  366 
Hospital  393 
Humayon,  tomb  of  214 
Hume,  Rev.  R.  A.  460 
Hypnotism,  Hindu  282 

Idols  455 

Illiteracy  339 

Income  tax  75 

Indian   Ocean,  temperature   of 

Indigo  474 
Infanticide  200,  293 
Irrigation  in  India  327 

Jains,  religious  sect  of  iii,  158, 
400 
temples  of  the  195 
Jeejeebhoy,  Sir  Jamsetjed  17 
Jehanghir,  the  Mogul  226 
Jewels  81,  84,  167,  220,  259,  499, 

505 

Jewelry  25,  39 
Jeypore,  city  of  164,  169 
Maharaja  of  172 


Jodpore  165 
Juggernaut,  the  370 

Khyber  Pass  336 
Kipling,  Rudyard  305 
Kitchener,  Lord  355,  487 
Kutab  Minar,  the  271 

Laboring  classes  77 
Lahore,  city  of  302 
Lamington,  Lord  15 
Land  laws  78 
Languages  of  India  63 
Levees,  the  viceroy's  498 
Literature,  Hindu  403 
Lucknow,  city  of  376 

Magicians,  religious  280 
Manufacturing  75,  160,  307,  437, 

468 
Mark  Twain,  anecdote  of  43 
Marriage  customs  83,  394 
Mayo  College  200 
Mendicants,  religious  277 
Minerals  81 
Miriam,  the  Christian  princess 

229 
Missions,    American   287,    305, 

340,  371,  457 
Mizra,  Gheas  Bey  225 
Mogul  Empire  202 
Moguls,  the  last  of  the  211 
Mohammedans  112,  400,  404 
Mohammedan  College  372 
Monkey  temple  at  Bombay  104 
Monsoons  313 
Mortality  from  snake  and  tiger 

bites  186 
Mosques  in  Delhi  270 
Mountains  of  India  416 


512 


INDEX 


Museum,  the  imperial  492 
Mutiny,  the  211,  zy^ 
Muttra,  city  of  366 

Native  princes  505 

Nautch  dancers  284 

Nepal,  state  of  422 

New  Year  Day  in  Calcutta  502 

Nomenclature  in  India  164 

Nur  Jehan  225 

Occupations  66 

Officials,  English  and  native  140 

Opium  trade  476 

Palace,  the  viceroy's  495,  496 
Palaces,  the  ]\Iogul  218,  259 
Parsees,  the  16,  99,  400,  461,  505 
Patterson,  Consul-general  488 
Peacock  throne  262 
Pearl  carpet  84 
Pearl  Mosque  220 
Peerbhoy,  Adamjee  14 
Peshawar,  city  of  336 
Petit  family  of  Bombay  18 
Phipps,  Henry  191,  324 
Pilgrims  442 
Police  354 
Politicians  138 
Population  of  Bombay  20 

of  India  62 

foreign  64 
Portuguese  colony  60 
Postal  service  155,  495 
Poverty  70 

Princes,  native  124,  505 
Progress  of  India  74 
Prosperity  of  India  74 
P.  and  O.  Steamers  13 


Quinine  crop  474 

Racing  horses  495 

in  Calcutta  503 
Railways  144,  368 
Railway  travel  in  India  46 

stations  366 

station  at  Bombay  30 
Rainfall  313 
Rajputs,  the  129,  194 
Rajputana,  province  of  195 
Ramadan,  feast  of  115 
Ranjitsinhji,  Prince  15 
Rarjumund  Banu  232 
Readymoney,  Sir  Jehanghir  r6 
Red  Sea,  temperature  of  13 
Reforms  in  India  404 
Religions  of  India  64,  99,  438, 

458,  484 
Residences  of  Bombay  27 
Rice  eating  68 
Road,  Great  Trunk  268 
Roberts,  Lord  355 
Ruins  of  Delhi  268 
Rulers,  native  124 
Russians,  fear  of  336 
policy  of  424 

Salaries  of  officials  123 

Schools,  native  133,  399,  462 

Servants,  native  46 

Shah  Jehan  208,  228 

Shopping  in  India  49O 

Sights  of  Bombay  23 

Sikhs,  the  114,  300 

Simla,  summer  capital  at  295 

Siva,  the  demon  god  55 

Sleeping  cars  145 

Snakes  186 

Snake  charmers  282 


INDEX 


513 


Social  customs  of  India  34,  499 
Society  in  India  488 
Stables  at  Jeypore  177 
Starvation  70,  316 
Steamers,  P.  and  O.  13 
Steamship  passage  to  India  11 
Street  sprinkling  493 
Sugar  planting  473 
Superstitions  380,  454 
"Suttee"  forbidden  393 

Taj  Mahal  232 
Tamerlane  202 
Tata,  J.  N.  19,  54,  410 
Taxes  79 

Tea-planting  415,  470 
Telegraphs  and  telephones  154 
Temperance  in  the  army  357 
Temples  484 

of  Delhi  270 
of  Ahmedabad  159 
Tigers  186,  189 
Tiger  catching  189 
Timour  202 

Thibet,  invasion  of  413,  420 
Thugs  277,  289 

founder  of  the  287 
Throne,  the  Peacock  262 
Tomb  of  Akbar  229 
Tombs  of  Delhi  273 
Towers  of  Silence  100 


Travellers,  English  and  Amer- 
ican 12  * 

Trust  of  Bombay,  the  Improve- 
ment 39 

Universities  138,  398 
University  of  Bombay  30 
Tata,  the  411 

Viceroy,  authority  of  120 
receptions  of  499 
Voyage  to  India  11 

Wages  48,  469 

Water,  impurities  of  the  369 

supply  326 
Wedding  customs  83 
Wheat  grov^ring  79 
Widows  in  India  393 
Widow  burning  393 
Winter  in  India  307 
Women  of  India  225,  389,  404, 
459,  505 
of  Bombay  24 
English  and  American 
12 

Xavier,  St.  Francis  60 

Younghusband,  Colonel  420 


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